President Donald Trump announced Saturday that a U.S. military operation in the Caribbean this week destroyed a “very large drug-carrying submarine,” killing two suspected narco-terrorists and capturing two others.
Trump, who also ordered the release of video footage of the strike, said a statement posted to Truth Social that the vessel was carrying mostly “fentanyl and other narcotics” toward the U.S. on a “well-known narcotrafficking transit route.”
He claimed the interdiction prevented as many as 25,000 American overdose deaths. “No U.S. Forces were harmed in this strike. Under my watch, the United States of America will not tolerate narcoterrorists trafficking illegal drugs, by land or by sea,” he added.
Fox News previously reported that two survivors were rescued by the U.S. Navy following the strike and were being held aboard an American warship. Trump’s statement marked the first official confirmation of their identities and nationalities.
The incident was the sixth U.S. interdiction of a suspected drug-smuggling vessel since combat operations began in the Caribbean last month. The Pentagon has not publicly disclosed the name of the operation.
Trump first mentioned the strike publicly during a meeting Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House.
“We attacked a submarine, and that was a drug-carrying submarine built specifically for the transportation of massive amounts of drugs,” he told reporters.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking separately on Friday, did not dispute reports of survivors from the strike but said additional details would be released at a later time, Fox News reported.
Earlier this week, Trump confirmed he had authorized CIA operations in the region. On Thursday, U.S. Air Force B-52s conducted a visible “show of force” mission near Venezuelan waters.
Fentanyl — much of it manufactured in Mexico using ingredients supplied by China — has been a scourge on the U.S. for years.
In May 2023, Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced an amendment that would require the death penalty for anyone caught smuggling the illicit drug across the U.S.-Mexico border.
“300 Americans are murdered each day by fentanyl. It’s the leading killer of young people, 18-34, in America. Today, I introduced an amendment to H.R. 467 to give the death penalty to criminals who intentionally or knowingly import fentanyl across our Southern border,” she tweeted at the time.
Greene’s amendment comes as several Republican lawmakers have pushed for new legislation to enforce tougher penalties to crack down on the fentanyl crisis.
As the border crisis worsened during the Biden presidency, some Republicans suggested life sentences for anyone convicted of trafficking fentanyl or the death penalty for those convicted of selling or distributing the harmful and deadly drug.
Previously, Arizona GOP Rep. Paul Gosar introduced The Death Penalty for Dealing Fentanyl Act of 2022, which would punish those convicted of selling or distributing fentanyl with the death penalty or life in prison.
“Instead of reducing prison sentences for drug offenders, it is long past time that those responsible for manufacturing or knowingly distributing fentanyl pay a heavy price,” Gosar said. “We must get tough on those criminals that are contributing to this drug crisis.”
“One of the many deeply troubling consequences of Joe Biden’s open border policies is the deadly flow of fentanyl across the southern border. Since Biden assumed office in January 2021, more than 1,000,000 pounds of illegal drugs have been seized, including 7,700 pounds of fentanyl in just the first five months of 2022. The overwhelming majority of fentanyl is smuggled across the border from Mexico,” he said at the time.
He added in a press release: “More Americans have died in the last 23 years of drug poisoning than in all combat losses combined since 1775. Instead of reducing prison sentences for drug offenders, it is long past time that those who are responsible for manufacturing or knowingly distributing fentanyl pay a heavy price.”