El Nuevo Herald
Federal authorities charged more than 25 people from Venezuela, Colombia, and Honduras allegedly linked to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua (TdA) in Florida and five other states. The Department of Justice reported that the charges of arms and drug trafficking are part of a national operation against the TdA, considered by the US as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO). This operation resulted in the seizure of over 80 firearms and approximately 18 kilograms of drugs, including fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstasy, ketamine, MDMA, and "Tusi," a mixed substance containing ketamine and/or MDMA. Over $100,000 in cash was also seized. Charges were filed in six federal prosecutor's offices in South Florida, Northern Indiana, Central and Northern Tennessee, and Eastern Washington, for crimes including firearms trafficking, drug trafficking, and possession of a firearm to facilitate a drug trafficking offense, among others. Three alleged TdA members accused in Florida, three undocumented foreigners allegedly linked to the TdA, were charged in South Florida with conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute. The three defendants are alleged associates of a defendant—accused in the Middle District of Tennessee and linked to the TdA—who allegedly facilitated the sale of large quantities of narcotics and firearms, on separate occasions, between the three defendants in this case and an ATF undercover agent in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
