US creating new counter-narcotics task force in its Southern Command, Hegseth says

(Reuters) -The U.S. Defense Department is establishing a new counter-narcotics joint task force in the Southern Command’s area of responsibility, where the United States has been targeting boats it alleges to be carrying drugs, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said on Friday.

U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) is the U.S. military’s combatant command that encompasses 31 countries through South and Central America and the Caribbean.

“The message is clear: if you traffic drugs toward our shores, we will stop you cold,” Hegseth said on X.

(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya and Ismail Shakil; Editing by Chris Reese)