WorldPosted at: Oct 28 2026 7:40PM


US warns drug cartels expanding into Pacific Islands, pledges $44 million to fight trafficking

Washington, Oct. 27 (UNI) The United States warned that drug trafficking networks linked to Latin America are increasingly exploiting Pacific island nations as transit routes, pledging $44 million in new security assistance to strengthen regional law enforcement and disrupt cross-border criminal operations.
F. Cartwright Weiland, the US assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs, said the scale of drug seizures across the Pacific has surged, exposing a growing security threat to island nations and the United States.
“Before May of this year, authorities across the Pacific had seized 17 tons of illicit drugs,” Weiland said during a virtual press briefing on Tuesday. That was more than three times the total seized in all of 2025, he said.
The increase suggests traffickers are exploiting the vast distances between the Americas, Australia, New Zealand and Pacific island nations to move narcotics through maritime routes and ports, Weiland said.
The United States hosted its first US-Pacific Islands Conference of Police Ministers in Los Angeles last week, bringing together regional officials and law enforcement agencies to coordinate responses to the threat.
Washington announced $44 million in new programming at the conference, including $7 million for a regional crime-fighting centre in Palau focused on maritime enforcement training, financial intelligence and cybercrime.
The funding builds on a US investment in Pacific law enforcement that has grown from $6 million in 2021 to more than $60 million, Weiland said. The State Department opened its first regional office in Suva, Fiji, in 2024 and plans to expand its presence.
Weiland said criminal networks with roots in the Western Hemisphere were increasingly reaching into the Pacific, using local contacts and distributors rather than necessarily establishing formal cartel branches on the islands.
He cited Ecuadorian criminal groups as among those that appear capable of using semi-submersible vessels to transport drugs over long distances across the Pacific.
However, he said US authorities are yet to establish a definitive picture of which cartels were operating across the region or how their presence was evolving.
Potentially relevant groups include Mexico's Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels, as well as Ecuadorian gangs Los Lobos and Los Choneros, Weiland said, while cautioning that the situation remained fluid.
“I don't think we're seeing, for example, like, chapters of cartels sort of being established on these islands,” he said. Instead, traffickers appeared to be relying on contacts and distributors to move or sell drugs.
The United States is also concerned about the expansion of scam networks targeting Americans and residents of Pacific island nations, he said.
A separate $4 million US initiative, known as RIPTIDE, aims to connect law enforcement and security assistance efforts in the Western Hemisphere and the Pacific, allowing authorities to share intelligence on criminal organizations operating across both regions.
Weiland said the initiative would help countries circulate intelligence more quickly and potentially connect national systems through partners including Interpol and the World Customs Organization.
The effort reflects a shift in U.S. strategy as officials increasingly view drug trafficking in the Pacific as connected to criminal activity in Latin America, rather than as a separate regional problem.
The US Treasury Department is also involved, with Washington seeking to strengthen financial intelligence capabilities in smaller island states that have historically lacked sophisticated tools to trace illicit transactions and money laundering.
Working with Australia, New Zealand and other partners, the United States wants island governments to gain the technology and training needed to investigate financial flows independently, Weiland said.
Weiland described signs of worsening drug-related harm in the Pacific, including increased pressure on psychiatric services, drug use among schoolchildren and violent incidents involving suspected traffickers.
He said nearly 68,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in the latest year for which figures were available, underscoring the wider consequences of transnational narcotics trafficking.
The growing threat is particularly difficult for Pacific nations with small maritime fleets and vast exclusive economic zones to patrol.
In Fiji, US assistance is expected to include technology to improve maritime domain awareness, enabling authorities to monitor activity across territorial waters and detect suspicious vessels and drug shipments.
Weiland declined to identify the specific technologies or companies involved.
He said the same surveillance capabilities could help countries address illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, which also threatens regional maritime security and marine resources.
The Philippines participated in this year's conference, contributing experience in maritime security and efforts to combat illegal fishing. Weiland said Washington welcomed broader regional participation but did not specify which Southeast Asian countries might join future meetings.
The United States is also looking to draw on law enforcement expertise from mainland Southeast Asia, where U.S. officials have experience addressing scam centres and sexual exploitation networks.
Weiland said those capabilities could become increasingly relevant to Pacific island nations confronting criminal activity that had previously been less prevalent in their communities.
He stressed that Washington's approach was intended to support, rather than direct, regional governments, which retain responsibility for their own law enforcement and security policies.
“We want to make the Pacific the hardest place on Earth for criminals to do business,” Weiland said.
He described last week's conference as a significant step towards closer cooperation but said no decision had been made on a second meeting. He expressed hope that regional governments would build on the initiative as soon as next year.
The challenge for Washington and its partners will be translating new funding, intelligence-sharing arrangements and surveillance capabilities into measurable results against trafficking networks operating across some of the world's largest maritime distances.UNI AAB
Tags: #US warns drug cartels expanding into Pacific Islands# pledges $44 million to fight trafficking
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