Trump says two drug-vessel survivors might be despatched to residence international locations : NPR

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Mark Schiefelbein/AP WASHINGTON — The 2 survivors of an American army strike on a suspected drug-carrying vessel within the Caribbean might be despatched to Ecuador and Colombia, their residence international locations, President Donald Trump stated Saturday.

The army rescued the pair after hanging a submersible vessel Thursday, in what was a minimum of the sixth such assault since early September.

"It was my nice honor to destroy a really massive DRUG-CARRYING SUBMARINE that was navigating in the direction of the US on a well-known narcotrafficking transit route," Trump stated in a social media submit. "U.S. Intelligence confirmed this vessel was loaded up with largely Fentanyl, and different unlawful narcotics."

The Republican president stated two individuals onboard had been killed — another than was beforehand reported — and the 2 who survived are being despatched to their residence international locations "for detention and prosecution."

The repatriation avoids questions for the Trump administration about what the authorized standing of the 2 would have been within the U.S. justice system.

With Trump's affirmation on his Fact Social platform of the demise toll, meaning U.S. army motion in opposition to vessels within the area have killed a minimum of 29 individuals.

The president has justified the strikes by asserting that the US is engaged in an "armed battle" with drug cartels. He's counting on the identical authorized authority utilized by the George W. Bush administration when it declared a battle on terrorism after the Sept. 11 assaults and is treating the suspected traffickers as in the event that they had been enemy troopers in a conventional battle.