25,000 Americans wouldve died: Trump claims US struck drug-carrying submarine
According to Trump, "two of the terrorists were killed" during the strike, while the two others were taken into custody and later returned to their home countries. "At least 25,000 Americans would die if I allowed this submarine to come ashore," he said, adding that "no US forces were harmed".
New Delhi: US President Donald Trump on Saturday announced that American forces had destroyed a "drug-carrying submarine" allegedly en route to the United States, killing two suspected traffickers and capturing two others. The surviving suspects, from Ecuador and Colombia, are being repatriated for detention and prosecution, Trump said.
"It was my great honor to destroy a very large drug-carrying submarine that was navigating towards the United States on a well-known narcotrafficking transit route," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. He claimed that the vessel was "loaded up with mostly fentanyl, and other illegal narcotics", and described the four crew members as "narcoterrorists".
'Two of the terrorists were killed'
According to Trump, "two of the terrorists were killed" during the strike, while the two others were taken into custody and later returned to their home countries. "At least 25,000 Americans would die if I allowed this submarine to come ashore," he said, adding that "no US forces were harmed".
Colombian President Gustavo Petro confirmed that one of the survivors, a Colombian national, had been repatriated. "We are glad he is alive and he will be prosecuted according to the law," Petro posted on X.
US military campaign to stop the flow of narcotics
The incident is part of what Trump has described as an ongoing US military campaign to stop the flow of narcotics from Latin America. Since September, at least six vessels -- mostly speedboats -- have reportedly been targeted by US strikes in the Caribbean. Washington claims that several of these boats originated from Venezuela.
Semi-submersible vessels, often referred to as "narco-subs", have long been used by traffickers in South America, particularly in Colombia, to move cocaine and synthetic drugs toward Central America and Mexico, usually via Pacific or Caribbean routes.