U.S. military takes out ship used as refueling station for alleged drug-trafficking boats

The U.S. military, in conjunction with Ecuadorian officials, boarded and later sank a vessel on Friday allegedly used as a refueling station for drug-trafficking boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean, according to U.S. Southern Command.

The vessel, which was in international waters near Ecuador, was allegedly used as a floating ship-to-ship refueling station for drug boats belonging to the Los Choneros organization.

The ship was boarded by Marines and sailors from the USS San Antonio and cleared without incident, SOCOM said. The people taken off the boat were then taken to Ecuador, and the U.S. sank the boat with an airstrike, SOCOM said, which also provided video of the ship being scuttled.

“Today’s operation is a stark example of the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition’s power to dismantle the sophisticated, clandestine narco-terrorist tactics and capabilities that have enabled the trafficking of dangerous drugs destined for American communities,” SOCOM Commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan said in a statement. “Working together with our Ecuadorian partners, our coalition dealt a decisive blow to a narco-terrorist operation responsible for moving significant amounts of drugs through the region. Together with our regional partners, we are committed to defeating narco-terrorists in the Western Hemisphere.”

The strike comes as the U.S. continues to target alleged drug traffickers with deadly strikes on small boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean. The latest strike came on Tuesday when four people were killed in a boat strike in the Caribbean.

That attack brought the number of people who have been killed in boat strikes by the U.S. military to at least 227 in 68 strikes since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls “narcoterrorists” almost a year ago. 

The last strike on an alleged drug boat in the Pacific Ocean came on Sunday, when two people were killed. It was the first strike after a pause of more than two months in the U.S. campaign against alleged smugglers.

Ecuadorian officials have been battling the Los Choneros gang for years. The drug-trafficking organization, named for the city of Chone in western Ecuador, was led for years by José Adolfo Macías Villamar. 

Macías escaped from jail in 2024 while serving a 34-year sentence for drug trafficking, after which a large-scale gang war broke out on the streets of the capital of Quito. The gang wars expanded to Guayaquil and the nearby town of Nobol. Gunmen even stormed a studio in Guayaquil and fired off shots on live TV. New President Daniel Noboa was forced to call in the army to quell the violence.

Macías, who was indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice on drug and weapons charges in April 2025, was recaptured two months later and extradited to the U.S. in July 2025. He pleaded not guilty to charges that he imported thousands of pounds of cocaine into the United States. He is still awaiting trial.