US will send survivors of strike on suspected drug vessel back to Ecuador and Colombia, Trump says

WASHINGTON AP 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 noted 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 passage Trump revealed in a social media post U S Intelligence certified this vessel was loaded up with mostly Fentanyl and other illegal narcotics The Republican president disclosed two people onboard were killed and the two who survived are being sent to their home countries for detention and prosecution The repatriation avoids questions for the Trump administration about what the legal status of the two would have been in the U S justice system Source