JTF-WHEM boards and sinks Treasury-sanctioned narco 'refueling station' vessel with Ecuador

Acting on Gen. Francis Donovan's orders and in coordination with the Government of Ecuador, Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere launched Marines and Sailors from USS San Antonio (LPD-17) to interdict a Treasury-sanctioned vessel operating as a floating refueling station for the Los Choneros narco-terrorist network in international waters of the eastern Pacific. The boarding team searched and cleared the vessel without incident; the people aboard were safely escorted to Ecuador, and US forces then sank the empty vessel. SOUTHCOM described the interdiction — a non-lethal boarding rather than a kinetic strike — as disrupting the logistics chain that lets smuggling boats operate far from shore.