Cocaine Trafficking Tracker

Shifting European Cocaine Routes

• 🔥 Portugal as New Gateway: UNODC 2026 report states Portugal has emerged as a key cocaine trafficking route...

Global cocaine output has quadrupled to over 4,000 tonnes, with cartels pushing into new African and Asian markets alongside traditional...

A brazen shooting in Ho Chi Minh City that killed Coconut Cartel operative Lorenzo Lemalu shows the war for Australia's cocaine market has spilled...

Traffickers are rapidly diversifying entry points and methods across continents.

• Portugal rises as a European gateway as seizures shift from...

Dr. Sullivan contends that cartels have evolved into poly-crime networks wielding criminal insurgency to erode state sovereignty, making militarized...

Mexican Cartels Global Expansion

• 🔥 Senate Testimony on Multi-Continent Presence: Vanda Felbab-Brown's testimony details Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG...

Cocaine production more than doubled since 2020, pushing violence higher in Sweden, UK, Netherlands and France.

• Open-air markets in Stockholm...

Expert testimony details Sinaloa and CJNG expanding meth labs across Europe, Africa, and Asia-Pacific while building cocaine markets and precursor...

Australia's largest-ever cocaine seizure of 2.7 tonnes, valued at $816 million, exposes the expanding reach of mothership maritime operations into the...

Record Seizures

• 🔥 Australia's Largest Busts: Police seized 2.7 tonnes and separately 3 tonnes of cocaine hidden in underground bunkers near...

Pacific Interdictions

• 🔥 US Military Strike: US military strike on suspected drug boat in Pacific kills three suspects.
• 🔥 Operation Pacific...

• US designates PCC and CV as terrorist groups over cocaine routes to Europe and Africa plus arms and extortion ties.
• Brazil stays absent from fresh...

Two analyses offer sharply different takes on fighting cartels.

• One highlights how cocaine trafficking hit record highs since Escobar's 1993 death,...

US interdiction efforts are expanding rapidly across multiple fronts.

• Coast Guard Operation Pacific Viper has seized 225,000 pounds of cocaine...

The HSTF's interagency efforts continue delivering guilty pleas and sentencings against transnational criminal organization operatives, including cartels. This reflects the consistent judicial processing that underpins long-term enforcement pressure.

Tren de Aragua transformed from a Venezuelan prison group into a transnational operation controlling migrant routes, human trafficking networks, and...

Asset seizures and new global port measures signal escalating financial and operational crackdowns on cocaine routes.

• Albanian authorities seized...

Cartel Busts and Operations

• 🔥 DEA Targets CJNG: DEA led a 5-day operation across 23 field divisions and 7 countries seizing 77,000 kilograms...

• SOUTHCOM leads counter-narcoterrorism operations targeting cartels threatening U.S. security
• Colombian gangs share logistics networks exporting...

Cross-border teamwork is emerging as the standard response to cocaine trafficking.

• Serbia and Germany jointly dismantle a ring and seize nearly...