This is how the US destroyed a drug-laden submarine. Were Colombians murdered?

On Saturday, October 18 , U.S. President Donald Trump announced the destruction of a large submarine transporting fentanyl and other illegal drugs to U.S. territory. He reported that the operation took place along a known drug trafficking route.

On social media, he shared the exact moment of the bombing, where the ship was intercepted by US forces. The United States has carried out at least five attacks against vessels linked to drug trafficking in the Caribbean since September 2025.

Trump explained that four suspected narco-terrorists were on board the vessel; two died during the attack, and the other two, originally from Ecuador and Colombia, will be handed over to their respective countries for detention. He asserted that his administration will not tolerate drug trafficking by land or sea.

"It was a great honor for me to destroy a very large drug-carrying submarine en route to the United States on a known drug trafficking route... There were four known narco-terrorists on board the vessel. Two of the terrorists were killed," the president wrote on social media.

The Donald Trump administration released images of operations near Venezuelan territorial waters, in which speedboats and semi-submersibles transporting drugs to North America were destroyed.

The first attack killed 11 crew members, while subsequent incidents raised the total death toll to more than 25, according to international media. Washington argues that the operations are carried out under a legal framework that classifies the cartels as "narco-terrorists," within a supposed "non-international armed conflict."

Nicolás Maduro's government denounced the incidents before the UN, calling them "extrajudicial executions," while Colombian President Gustavo Petro demanded explanations for the possible deaths of Colombian citizens in the attacks.