ITVNEWS: The UK has reportedly stopped sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in US military strikes and believes the attacks are illegal.
Downing Street did not deny reporting by CNN that the UK is withholding intelligence following US strikes on suspected drug smuggling vessels, which have killed at least 70 people since September.
Britain, which controls a number of territories in the Caribbean, has previously helped the US identify vessels suspected of carrying narcotics so that the US Coast Guard could intercept them.
That meant the ships would be stopped, boarded, their crews detained, and drugs seized.
However the UK government has stopped sharing this information with its ally amid concerns the US military strikes it believes may breach international law.
The UK’s decision marks a significant break from its closest ally and intelligence-sharing partner and underscores the growing scepticism over the legality of the US’s campaign.
The intelligence was typically sent to Joint Interagency Task Force South, a task force stationed in Florida that includes representatives from a number of partner nations and works to reduce the illicit drug trade.
But shortly after the US began launching lethal strikes against the boats in September, however, the UK grew concerned that the US might use intelligence provided by the British to select targets.
British officials believe the US military strikes, which have killed 76 people, violate international law, sources told CNN.
The UN’s human rights chief, Volker Türk, said last month that the strikes violate international law and amount to “extrajudicial killing.”
The UK agrees with that assessment, the sources told CNN.
When asked directly, the government did not deny the report, with a spokesperson saying: “It is the long-standing position of successive governments is not to comment on intelligence matters.“The UK and the US have an extensive intelligence sharing relationship ranging from law enforcement through to national security and 5Eyes.”
Canada, another key US ally which has helped the US Coast Guard interdict suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean for nearly two decades, has also distanced itself from the policy, with the country reportedly telling the US it does not want any of its intelligence being used to help target boats for strikes.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who has been a fierce critic of the strikes, said on Tuesday that he had similarly ordered his country’s security forces to suspend intelligence sharing with US security agencies until the attacks in the Caribbean stop.
The Trump administration has argued that the US military can legally kill suspected traffickers because they pose an imminent threat to Americans and are “enemy combatants” who are in an “armed conflict” with the US, according to a memo sent by the administration to Congress.
Trump has also designated a number of drug cartels as “foreign terrorist groups.”
The White House has said repeatedly that the administration’s actions “comply fully with the Law of Armed Conflict,” the area of international law that is designed to prevent attacks on civilians.
This stance has not been fully accepted by international law experts in the US.
Several boats hit by the US have either been stationary or were turning around when they were attacked, undermining the administration’s claim that they posed an imminent threat that could not be dealt with through interdiction and arrest.
Senior US defense officials have also expressed scepticism of the military campaign.
The commander of US Southern Command, Admiral Alvin Holsey, offered to resign during a tense meeting last month with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff after he raised questions about the legality of the strikes.
He is set to leave his post next month, just one year into the job.
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