Sept. 11 (UPI) — Ecuador’s navy has recovered all 10 fishermen who went missing after U.S. forces intercepted and sank their fishing vessel in the eastern Pacific earlier this week, ending a two-day search and raising new questions about the operation.

The Ecuadorian Navy said it located the 10 crew members Thursday after a search that began on Tuesday, when U.S. forces intercepted the Don Rufo in international waters and later sank the vessel.

The fishermen were taken aboard the Ecuadorian naval vessel BAE Atahualpa and were being transported to port for procedures by the appropriate authorities. The Navy did not disclose where they were found or provide details about their condition.

The Don Rufo, based in the coastal city of Manta, was carrying 16 people when U.S. forces intercepted it in international waters about 327 nautical miles from Manta, according to local newspaper El Diario.

U.S. Southern Command said intelligence had identified the vessel as a “floating refueling station” supporting illicit drug trafficking operations linked to Los Choneros, an Ecuadorian criminal organization designated by Washington as a terrorist group.

U.S. forces boarded the vessel, removed people from it and sank the Don Rufo. The Southern Command subsequently said those removed from the vessel had been transferred to Ecuadorian authorities.

Ecuador’s account, however, showed that only six of the 16 crew members were initially handed over to authorities.

The Navy said the other 10 crew members apparently moved away from the site of the operation aboard five smaller boats, prompting Ecuador to launch a search-and-rescue operation.

The Navy has not explained when or under what circumstances the fishermen left the Don Rufo, leaving unclear what happened between the U.S. interception and the start of Ecuador’s search.

The Don Rufo is the sixth Ecuadorian vessel intercepted, destroyed and sunk by U.S. forces since Aug. 28 as part of expanded operations against maritime drug trafficking in the eastern Pacific, according to Ecuadorian news outlet Primicias.

The other vessels are Los Tres Hermanos, Conquista II, OM2, María Candelaria and Montecristi. U.S. authorities have said the vessels were being used to supply fuel to boats involved in drug trafficking.

The operations are being conducted in cooperation with the government of Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa as the two countries expand security cooperation against transnational criminal organizations.

Ecuadorian Interior Minister John Reimberg said Thursday that the operations would continue and defended the government’s cooperation with the United States, saying the intercepted boats were supplying narcotics operations rather than conducting normal fishing activities.

“There wasn’t even a little fish,” Reimberg said, according to El Diario.

The operations have also produced legal challenges in Ecuador.

Sixty fishermen from the Conquista II, OM2 and María Candelaria faced hearings over alleged criminal association following U.S. interceptions earlier this month, but an Ecuadorian judge declared detention of 28 of them fishermen illegal and ordered their immediate release.

Another 32 were released while facing proceedings for alleged criminal association, Primicias reported.

Defense attorney Juan Alvia said prosecutors accused the fishermen of supplying fuel to vessels operating outside the law, but he disputed the evidence presented against his clients. The fishermen and their families have denied links to Los Choneros.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who visited Ecuador on Wednesday as part of a Latin American tour focused heavily on security cooperation, defended the maritime operations and said their purpose was not to kill fishermen, but to disrupt drug trafficking by criminal organizations.