Daijiworld Media Network - Washington

Washington, Sep 17: In a hard-hitting statement, FBI Director Kash Patel on Tuesday compared drug trafficking organisations to foreign terrorist groups, stressing that they must be confronted with the same intensity as al Qaeda after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

“We must treat them like the al Qaedas of the world,” Patel told a Senate hearing, pledging that the campaign against drug cartels would be a years-long mission.

His remarks came a day after President Donald Trump announced that the US military had struck a second Venezuelan boat in international waters. Trump claimed the vessel was carrying narcotics and that three men had been killed, though he offered no evidence.

Earlier on September 2, another strike by US forces allegedly targeted members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang, killing 11 people. However, the Venezuelan government has denied any such link, insisting none of those killed belonged to the gang.

The practice of blowing up suspected drug vessels instead of seizing them has raised concerns, drawing parallels with America’s military tactics against terror groups. Critics argue the move stretches the limits of presidential authority, as the US Constitution requires Congress—not the president—to declare war.

Patel’s comments echoed similar statements made recently by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who defended the government’s decision to deploy major forces to the southern Caribbean under an anti-narcotics mission.

“A foreign terrorist organisation poisoning your people with drugs coming from a drug cartel is no different than al Qaeda, and they will be treated as such,” Hegseth had said earlier this month.