The United Kingdom has stopped sharing intelligence with the United States in defiance of U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats.
Sources familiar with the development told CNN that the UK does not want to be complicit in the strikes and believes they are illegal. Previously, the UK has “helped the US locate vessels suspected of carrying drugs so that the US Coast Guard could interdict them,” the report explained.
Similarly, Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced that he has directed the country’s security forces to end intelligence sharing with the United States.
“Issue the order to all levels of the public security forces’ intelligence to suspend the sending of communications and other dealings with U.S. security agencies,” he wrote on X. “Such a measure will be maintained as long as the missile attack on boats in the Caribbean persists. The fight against drugs must be subordinated to the human rights of the Caribbean people.”
This week, War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the U.S. carried out “two lethal kinetic strikes” on two vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations.
“These vessels were known by our intelligence to be associated with illicit narcotics smuggling, were carrying narcotics, and were transiting along a known narco-trafficking transit route in the Eastern Pacific,” he said. “Both strikes were conducted in international waters and 3 male narco-terrorists were aboard each vessel. All 6 were killed. No U.S. forces were harmed.”
“Under President Trump, we are protecting the homeland and killing these cartel terrorists who wish to harm our country and its people,” Hegseth added.
Some U.S. lawmakers have criticized the strikes, with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) saying they “go against all of our tradition.” Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) accused the Trump administration of participating in “sanctioned murder” when discussing the strikes.
