Trump Claims US Strike on ‘Drug-Running Submarine’ Prevented 25,000 Deaths

US Strikes ‘Drug-Carrying Submarine’; Trump Claims 25,000 Lives Saved.

President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that the United States has returned two suspected drug traffickers to their home countries, Ecuador and Colombia, following a military strike on a “drug-smuggling submarine” in the Caribbean that killed two others.

Trump, posting on Truth Social, said the submarine was heavily loaded with fentanyl and other drugs. “It was my great honor to destroy a very large DRUG-CARRYING SUBMARINE navigating towards the United States on a well-known narcotrafficking route,” he wrote. “Two of the terrorists were killed. The two surviving terrorists are being returned to their countries of origin for detention and prosecution.”

Colombian President Gustavo Petro confirmed the repatriation of the Colombian suspect, stating on X (formerly Twitter), “We are glad he is alive and he will be prosecuted according to the law.”

This strike, first announced by Trump on Friday, is part of an ongoing US military campaign aimed at disrupting the flow of narcotics from Latin America to the United States. Since September, at least six vessels—mostly speedboats—have been targeted in the Caribbean, with some allegedly originating from Venezuela.

While Washington claims the campaign is significantly curbing drug trafficking, it has yet to provide evidence that those killed—at least 27 people so far—were confirmed traffickers. Legal experts note that summary killings, even targeting alleged narcotics operatives, may violate international law.

Semi-submersible submarines, often built in clandestine jungle shipyards in South America, are typically used to transport cocaine from Colombia to Central America or Mexico, usually via the Pacific Ocean. The origin of the recent submarine targeted by US forces has not been disclosed.