It was my great honour: Trump says US destroyed 'drug-carrying submarine'

Washington, Oct 19 (IANS) US President Donald Trump has announced that Washington had destroyed a "drug-smuggling submarine" in the Caribbean and was sending two surviving suspects back to their home countries, Ecuador and Colombia, following a military strike that killed two others on board.

"It was my great honour to destroy a very large drug-carrying submarine that was navigating towards the United States on a well-known narcotrafficking transit route," Trump said on his Truth Social platform on Saturday (local time), claiming that the vessel was loaded with fentanyl and other narcotics.

The President alleged that if the submarine had been allowed to reach the United States, "at least 25,000 Americans would have died."

"There were four known narcoterrorists on board the vessel. Two of the terrorists were killed... The two surviving terrorists are being returned to their countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia, for detention and prosecution," he further stated.

Trump said no American personnel were harmed during the military operation and asserted that under his leadership, the United States would not allow such threats to go unchecked.

"Under my watch, the United States of America will not tolerate narcoterrorists trafficking illegal drugs, by land or by sea," he said.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro later confirmed that the Colombian national detained in the incident had been repatriated.

"We are glad he is alive and he will be prosecuted according to the law," Petro wrote on X.

The strike, which Trump had announced a day earlier, marks the latest action in what he described as an unprecedented US military campaign to curb the flow of narcotics from Latin America into the United States.

Since September, at least six vessels -- mostly speedboats -- have been targeted by US forces in the Caribbean, with some allegedly originating from Venezuela.

Washington has claimed that its campaign is delivering a severe blow to international drug networks. However, it has yet to present concrete evidence proving that the 27 individuals killed in these operations were indeed drug traffickers.

--IANS

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