Trump to send drug boat strike survivors to home countries
U.S. President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on October 16, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump has stated that the two survivors of a military strike on a drug trafficking boat from Venezuela will be repatriated.
On Thursday, the U.S. struck a vessel in the Caribbean Sea that was carrying illegal drugs to America. This was the sixth such strike of the Trump administration’s counter-narcotics operation, but the first instance where any suspected drug traffickers survived. Over a dozen people have been killed in the operation thus far.
Two passengers were rescued from the explosion and held on a U.S. Navy warship for questioning and processing, according to anonymous U.S. officials.
On Saturday, Trump posted an update on his Truth Social platform, confirming the home countries of the survivors and the contents they were smuggling.
“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. “U.S. Intelligence confirmed this vessel was loaded up with mostly Fentanyl, and other illegal narcotics. There were four known narcoterrorists on board the vessel. Two of the terrorists were killed. At least 25,000 Americans would die if I allowed this submarine to come ashore.”
Advertisement
The president continued, “The two surviving terrorists are being returned to their Countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia, for detention and prosecution.”
“Under my watch, the United States of America will not tolerate narcoterrorists trafficking illegal drugs, by land or by sea,” Trump declared.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro reportedly offered his country’s natural resources if Trump agrees to end the aggressive military push against seafaring drug traffickers.
On Friday, Trump told reporters that the socialist president has “offered everything.”
“You know why?” Trump said. “Because he doesn’t want to f*** around with the United States.”
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. U.S. Intelligence confirmed this vessel was loaded up with mostly Fentanyl, and other illegal narcotics. There were… pic.twitter.com/Do3yoqbYdr
— Trump Truth Social Posts On X (@TrumpTruthOnX) October 18, 2025
Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
