Washington, Oct 19: The US military has destroyed a suspected drug-carrying submarine navigating toward American shores along a known narcotrafficking route in the Caribbean, President Donald Trump announced on Saturday.
“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 said in a post on his Truth Social platform. “US Intelligence confirmed this vessel was loaded up with mostly Fentanyl, and other illegal narcotics.”
Trump claimed that the strike prevented a massive public health disaster. “At least 25,000 Americans would die if I allowed this submarine to come ashore,” he said, adding that “two surviving terrorists are being returned to their countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia, for detention and prosecution.”
A video released by the Pentagon on X showed black-and-white surveillance footage of the strike. The semi-submersible vessel could be seen gliding partially submerged through rough waves before a series of explosions hit it, one detonating over the vessel’s rear.
According to Trump, two people on board were killed, one more than initially reported, and two others were rescued by US forces after Thursday’s strike. The survivors were picked up in a helicopter operation and taken to a US Navy warship.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro confirmed on X that the detained Colombian national would face prosecution under local law, saying, “We are glad he is alive, and he will be prosecuted according to the law.” Ecuador’s government press office said it was not immediately aware of plans for repatriation.
With this latest operation, the death toll from US military actions targeting suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean has risen to at least 29, including 27 from previous strikes since early September.
Trump has defended the ongoing campaign, saying the US is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, invoking the same post-9/11 legal framework once used by the George W. Bush administration in the war on terror. This authority, he said, allows the US military to capture, detain, and use lethal force against cartel leaders, treating traffickers as “enemy combatants.”
The operations come amid a major US military buildup in the Caribbean, involving guided missile destroyers, F-35 fighter jets, a nuclear submarine, and around 6,500 troops, as tensions rise with the Venezuelan government.
Reiterating his administration’s stance, Trump said, “Under my watch, the United States of America will not tolerate narcoterrorists trafficking illegal drugs, by land or by sea.”
The Pentagon confirmed that Thursday’s strike was the sixth such operation against semi-submersible vessels suspected of narcotrafficking since early September, underscoring what officials described as a growing maritime threat to US shores.
Recent Comments