On President Donald Trump's orders, the U.S. military last month began carrying out a series of strikes in the Caribbean, blowing up boats suspected of moving drugs and killing a total of at least 27 people so far. (Multiple news outlets reported that a strike yesterday was believed to be the first one to leave survivors.) Although Trump has called the dead "narcoterrorists," his administration has not provided good evidence to support that characterization.
During Nazarenko's trial at Denpasar District Court on Thursday, prosecutors argued he was one of the masterminds of a drug ring. The Ukrainian claimed he was tricked into joining the ring and sat silently as the panel of three judges handed down a life sentence. There is no reason to forgive or justify the defendant; he deserves to be punished commensurate with what he has done, presiding Judge Eni Martiningrum said. His crime could damage the mental state of the young generation.
Five people were arrested, accused of being involved in a cocaine-shipping scheme that used private air transport companies. The alleged trafficking operation involved hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of cocaine and cash, prosecutors say. Five alleged members of a drug trafficking organization were arrested Tuesday and accused of using luxury private shipping companies to fly hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of cocaine and cash between Los Angeles and New York City, federal authorities said.
They're drug traffickers, he said. We have to get rid of them because they're killing Americans. They're being hunted. Not our political adversaries. Actual drug traffickers. You know, these are the people that Democrats would never call deplorable,' but God forbid you deadname a trans. So, I think we are easy to figure out. You know, we are open about our love for law and order.
Antwerp: A major drug trafficking hub More drugs flowed through Antwerp than any other place in Europe, according to the 2025 annual report by the European Union Drugs Agency. In 2023, a record 116 tons of cocaine were seized in the port city. However, the amount of cocaine seized in 2024 fell by 50%, as authorities increased inspections.
On Saturday, a search warrant was executed on the 3000 block of Seven Trees Boulevard by the Narcotics Unit of the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office, authorities said. The search warrant followed an investigation into a drug trafficking organization that was operating in Sonoma County. While serving the search warrant, authorities conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle that was connected to the investigation, which first complied then fled the scene, authorities said.
Mr. Secretary, what legal authority did the Pentagon invoke to strike that boat full of drug smugglers? she asked. We have the absolute authority and complete authority to conduct that, Hegseth replied. First of all, just the defense of the American people alone. A hundred thousand Americans were killed each year under the previous administration because of an open border and open drug traffic flow. That is an assault on the American people.
Democrats were left in the dark on the operation, multiple sources told Axios, and they want answers on the legal basis for the strike. Their leaders raised similar concerns following President Trump's airstrikes on Iran in June. U.S. officials said the attack on the ship - which killed 11 members of the Tren de Aragua cartel, according to Trump - targeted drug trafficking. But it's threaded with the hopes of regime change in Venezuela.
The US attack on the Venezuelan boat on Tuesday came just a few days after news reports circulated about US warships advancing into Venezuelan waters. Last month, The New York Times reported that Trump had signed a secret directive instructing the Pentagon to use military force against certain Latin American drug cartels designated by the US as foreign terrorist organisations.