US to repatriate survivors of strike on ‘drug-carrying submarine’, Trump says
President Donald Trump said the United States would extradite two survivors of what he called a “drug-carrying submarine” attack to their countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia.
Writing on social media, Trump said that two more people died in the US attack on the ship, and that US intelligence confirmed that the ship was “mostly full of Fentanyl and other illegal drugs.”
Attack on thursday This is at least the sixth US attack on ships in the Caribbean Sea in recent weeks. It is stated that survivors have been reported for the first time.
According to figures released by the administration, at least 27 people were killed in five previous boat attacks in the waters off the coast of Venezuela.
The two survivors were rescued by a US military helicopter and then boarded a US warship in the Caribbean, unnamed US officials told US media earlier.
In recent weeks, Trump has stepped up threats against Venezuela’s government over allegations that the country is sending drugs to the United States. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro accused Trump of trying to turn the South American nation into an “American colony.”
Trump has defended the ongoing boat attacks, saying they are aimed at stopping the flow of drugs from Latin America to the United States, but his government has not provided evidence or details about the identities of the ships or those on board.
“It was my great honor to destroy a very large DRUG CARRYING SUBMARINE that was heading towards the United States via a well-known transit route for drug trafficking,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Saturday.
“The two surviving terrorists are being returned to their countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia, for detention and prosecution.”
He added that no US military personnel were injured in the attack.
On Friday, the US president said the submarine targeted in the latest attack was “specifically built to carry large amounts of drugs.”
“This was not an innocent group of people. I don’t know too many people with submarines, and this was an attack on a loaded submarine carrying drugs,” he added.
UN-appointed human rights experts described the US attacks as “extrajudicial killings”.
Trump had previously told reporters that he had authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela and was considering launching an attack on Venezuelan territory.
Narco-submarines have become a popular way to transport drugs because they can remain largely undetected and can be sunk after delivery. They are usually homemade and constructed using fiberglass and plywood.
The United States and other coastal countries had previously seized some of these submarines.
