SOUTHCOM destroys a second Los Choneros fuel vessel in the Eastern Pacific within a week
Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere personnel operating under U.S. Southern Command boarded and destroyed a fishing vessel in the Eastern Pacific on September 15 that intelligence tied to Los Choneros, the Ecuadorian gang the U.S. has designated a foreign terrorist organization; the boat was functioning as a floating fuel depot for smugglers' go-fast boats rather than carrying drugs itself. The crew was taken off before the vessel was sunk and handed over to Ecuadorian authorities rather than killed, marking the second such refueling-vessel takedown SOUTHCOM has announced in a week and continuing a fuel-network campaign distinct from the lethal go-fast-boat strikes that, as of this roundup's Sept 10 edition, had reached 69 strikes and a death toll passing 230.
