Canada’s Department of National Defence says it will continue a long-standing operation with the U.S. Coast Guard to capture drug smugglers in the Caribbean, despite a string of deadly U.S. airstrikes in the region.

Operation Caribbe — ongoing since 2006 — sees the Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Canadian Air Force partner with the U.S. Coast Guard to find and stop suspected drug boats in the Caribbean, taking any detainees to the U.S. to face prosecution.

The U.S. Air Force has taken a much different approach in recent weeks, bombing four suspected drug boats and killing 21 people.

Canadian officials are now distancing themselves from those attacks, saying they have nothing to do with Canadian military or intelligence personnel in the region.

“It is important to note that Canadian Armed

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