US indicts 81 in Puerto Rico drug gang crackdown under Trump initiative

U.S. federal prosecutors on Thursday indicted 81 individuals in Puerto Rico on charges of drug trafficking, firearms possession and violent crimes linked to the criminal organization Los Baja Deo (LBD), the Department of Justice said. The indictment follows the arrest of 70 of the defendants by the FBI and Puerto Rico Police a day earlier, according to a statement from Attorney General Todd Blanche during a visit to the island.

The charges are part of a Homeland Security Task Force effort launched by President Donald Trump in 2025 to dismantle cartels, foreign gangs and transnational criminal networks in the Western Hemisphere. “Let this be a warning to those that are terrorizing our communities,” Blanche said. He added that the task forces across the United States are united to end the presence of criminal cartels and foreign gangs.

LBD, which operates in and around Mayaguez in western Puerto Rico, is alleged to have begun distributing heroin, fentanyl, cocaine and marijuana in 2021. The Justice Department says the group moved at least 340 kg of fentanyl or fentanyl‑laced drugs and 2,200 kg of cocaine over the past five years, generating more than $49 million in proceeds. The indictment also alleges that the organization used the U.S. Postal Service to ship drugs from Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, and that it has engaged in murders and kidnappings to protect its drug‑trafficking operations.

Defendants charged with drug offenses face a minimum sentence of ten years, while those charged with both drug and firearms offenses could face a minimum of fifteen years. The maximum penalty in either case is life imprisonment. The Justice Department is also seeking to seize $49.7 million in assets tied to the criminal enterprise.

FBI Director Kash Patel praised the operation as “outstanding” and said the arrests disrupted “one of western Puerto Rico’s most violent drug‑trafficking organisations, dismantled its leadership and distribution networks, and cut off yet another key pipeline of dealt drugs flowing into our country.” Patel noted that the task force, which employs more than 9,000 federal agents, officers and analysts, was instrumental in the large‑scale arrests.

The indictment comes amid a broader U.S. effort to weaken drug trafficking networks across Latin America. Trump’s administration has designated several Latin American criminal groups as foreign terrorist organizations, a move that allows U.S. authorities to apply counterterrorism laws to those groups. Critics argue that such designations can be used to justify extrajudicial killings and other abuses of power.

Since September 2, 2025, the Trump administration has conducted repeated bombing campaigns against small boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific, citing drug transport as the rationale. The campaign has reportedly killed 227 people, though the identities of many victims remain unknown and no evidence has been publicly presented to substantiate the claims.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s action in Puerto Rico reflects the administration’s broader strategy to target drug trafficking and violent crime across the United States and its territories. By indicting 81 individuals and seizing millions in assets, the federal government aims to dismantle the leadership and logistical networks of LBD and to deter other criminal organizations from exploiting Puerto Rico’s geographic position as a gateway to the mainland United States.