Former U.S. Marine Michael Herrera has gone on record in an extended interview with journalist Ross Coulthart on Reality Check, claiming he witnessed a covert operation involving an enormous hovering craft and heavily armed American operatives deep in the jungles of Sumatra in 2009. The event, according to Herrera, was followed by classified threats, surveillance, and the forced confiscation of photographic evidence.

Speaking to Reality Check, Herrera described how his team, deployed from the USS Denver as part of a humanitarian relief mission following a massive earthquake and tsunami, was diverted to secure a landing zone near Padang. His unit consisted of six Marines assigned to perimeter duty. From a nearby slope, they observed what Herrera described as a strange rotating structure partially obscured by dense vegetation. The decision was made to investigate.

Herrera says they discovered a large octagonal craft, roughly 300 feet in diameter, hovering above a platform. The object had a pyramid-like structure on top, visible seams and panels, and reflected sunlight in a way that revealed shifts between matte grey and dark black. It emitted a low-frequency hum but produced no conventional rotor or jet noise. He said it was unlike any military aircraft or drone he had ever seen.

As they approached, eight unidentified men wearing all black intercepted them. They carried modern M4 rifles with advanced optics and IR attachments that were not part of standard Marine Corps issue. The operatives wore no insignias or identifying markers. Herrera told Reality Check they spoke with American accents, used military terminology, and demonstrated coordinated tactics consistent with special operations training.

The team was disarmed, searched, and threatened with execution. The operatives removed ammunition, confiscated IDs, and attempted to scan their identities with handheld biometric devices. Herrera said the equipment resembled both known military tech and more specialized devices later identified to him by intelligence contacts as being in use by the CIA. The men gave no explanation for who they were or under what authority they were operating.

While being held at gunpoint, Herrera says he witnessed a convoy of black, unmarked pickup trucks, possibly Ford F-350s, approach the platform. Each vehicle was towing a small black container with HVAC systems mounted on top. The containers, smaller than standard shipping units, appeared reinforced. They were loaded directly onto the platform beneath the hovering craft. The scene, he said, was like nothing he had ever encountered.

Herrera believed at the time that the containers were part of a drug operation. Later, after speaking with whistleblower Jake Barber, he was told that these containers were used in clandestine operations to transport individuals recruited for classified programs. Barber referred to these individuals as psionic assets. Herrera has never confirmed what was inside the containers, only that he observed them being loaded.

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He says the craft ascended silently once loading was complete. The platform beneath it rose to join the base of the structure. Colored lights, red, yellow, green, and blue, lit up on its corners. Then it shot horizontally across the sky toward the ocean, accelerating instantly and vanishing without sound, turbulence, or visible propulsion. Herrera described it as a black blur. There was no sonic boom.