More than 25 individuals have been charged in six U.S. Attorney General offices for drug trafficking, firearms trafficking, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and other offenses.
The charges are part of a Homeland Security Task Force operation targeting Tren de Aragua (TdA), a violent transnational criminal organization that originated as a prison gang in Venezuela in the mid-2000s.
The operation also resulted in the seizure of more than $100,000, approximately 18 kilograms of drugs and more than 80 firearms. Many of the defendants are illegal aliens from Venezuela, Colombia, and Honduras.
Since its founding, TdA’s criminal network has expanded throughout the Western Hemisphere. Criminal activities inside and outside the United States include assault, commercial sex trafficking, drug trafficking, extortion, firearms trafficking, fraud, kidnapping, murder, and
robbery. Members of a splinter faction, Anti-Tren, have been identified and arrested across the United States.
“Working with our local, state, and federal partners, we are identifying and disrupting the networks that arm and enable groups like Tren de Aragua,” Robert Cekada, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives director, said. “The seizure of firearms and dangerous narcotics underscores the critical nexus between illegal firearms trafficking and drug-related violence.”
The Department of Justice has charged more than 260 TdA members and associates.