The two survivors of an American military strike on a suspected drug-carrying vessel in the Caribbean will be sent to Ecuador and Colombia, their home countries, President Donald Trump said Saturday.
The military rescued the pair after striking a submersible vessel Thursday, in what was at least the sixth such attack since early September.
“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 social media post. “U.S. Intelligence confirmed this vessel was loaded up with mostly Fentanyl, and other illegal narcotics.”
The Republican president stated that two people onboard were killed—one more than was previously reported—and the two who survived are being sent to their home countries “for detention and prosecution.”
This repatriation avoids questions for the Trump administration about what the legal status of the two would have been in the U.S. justice system.
With Trump’s confirmation on his Truth Social platform of the death toll, it now means U.S. military action against vessels in the region has killed at least 29 people.
https://www.wptv.com/us-news/military/us-to-send-survivors-of-strike-on-suspected-drug-vessel-back-to-countries