The US leader would not say if it was a military or CIA operation or where the strike occurred, saying only that it was “along the shore”.
Asked if he had spoken to Maduro recently, following an earlier phone call in November, Trump said they had talked “pretty recently” but said that “nothing much comes out of it”.
Trump had been asked to elaborate on apparent throwaway comments he made in a radio interview broadcast at the weekend that seemed to mention a land strike for the first time.
“They have a big plant or a big facility where they send, you know, where the ships come from,” Trump told billionaire supporter John Catsimatidis on the WABC radio station in New York.
“Two nights ago we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard.”
Trump did not say in the interview where the facility was located or give any other details.
There has been no official comment from the Venezuelan Government.
The Pentagon earlier referred questions to the White House. The White House did not respond to requests for comment from AFP.
Trump has been threatening for weeks that ground strikes on drug cartels in the region would start “soon” but this is the first apparent example.
US forces have also carried out numerous strikes in both the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since September, killing more than 100 people.
Rights groups say the strikes could amount to extrajudicial killings, a charge Washington denies.
The Trump Administration has accused Maduro of running a drug cartel himself. The US has also imposed an oil tanker blockade.
-Agence France-Presse
