Tag: cocaine

Intelligence Reports: Hezbollah Helping ‘Transnational Cocaine Trafficking’ in Latin America

Intelligence reports revealed an international criminal network linking Iran and its proxy Hezbollah with the Venezuelan regime’s Cartel of the Suns and Colombia’s FARC and ELN Marxist terrorist groups, Colombian outlets reported this week.

According to the Colombian magazine Semana, Middle Eastern intelligence agencies provided the information to the Colombian Armed Forces in a report. Semana and the Bogotá-based Blu Radio both claimed to be in possession of a copy of the report, which reportedly details that Iran, through Hezbollah, provided “financial, logistical, and doctrinal support, especially in the context of transnational cocaine trafficking.”

Iran’s support, the report detailed, allowed the criminal alliance linking Hezbollah, the Venezuelan regime and the Cartel of the Suns, the Marxist National Liberation Army (ELN), and FARC’s Second Marquetalia group to establish “drug trafficking corridors, safe havens, illicit military operations, and extractive activities” along the Colombian-Venezuelan border.

Blu Radio detailed that the collapse of Venezuela’s governance structures allowed criminal networks such as ELN to infiltrate state structures and consolidate its presence in the Venezuelan states of Apure, Táchira, and Zulia, all of which neighbor Colombia.

The report then explained that the Cartel of the Suns, run by dictator Nicolás Maduro and other high-ranking members of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela and the nation’s military, has “evolved” into a more complex structure that interacts with Colombian armed groups. The Maduro regime’s repressive DGCIM Military Counterintelligence Directorate reportedly “acts as a protector of this network, guaranteeing impunity and eliminating dissent.” High-ranking generals from the DGCIM, the Venezuelan National Army, and the National Guard, the radio station said, are presumably involved in the criminal network.

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El Salvador Recalls Ambassador To Mexico Over Drug Plane Allegations

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said on July 9 that he was recalling El Salvador’s ambassador to Mexico for consultations after Mexico’s security chief claimed that a plane allegedly carrying cocaine had originated in El Salvador.

In a social media post, Bukele called the accusation false and urged Mexico to clarify and correct comments by Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch, who said during a press conference that the July 3 flight had come from El Salvador before it was intercepted in Colima, Mexico.

Bukele shared an image of the flight path and said tracking data showed the plane never entered Salvadoran airspace.

The president said Costa Rica reported a suspicious radar trace northwest of its territory on July 3.

“It was Costa Rica that activated the regional alert through APAN, a Central American air security network,” Bukele said.

“According to its own report, the aircraft’s trace entered Costa Rican airspace, briefly disappeared from radar, and then reappeared as it exited toward the Pacific. Our radars did not register any aerial contact within our airspace … Their report is clear: the aircraft flew over the Pacific Ocean and never entered Salvadoran territory.”

Bukele also criticized the Mexican government for not making public that three Mexican men were arrested over the flight.

“El Salvador does not shield criminals nor tolerate drug trafficking. We didn’t before, and we won’t now,” he said. “Nor will we allow attempts to involve us in operations that are neither our responsibility nor within our jurisdiction.”

Mexican authorities previously said three people were onboard the flight. They were arrested in Colima after 940 lb (427 kg) of cocaine was allegedly seized from the plane after landing.

Within hours of the post, Garcia Harfuch responded to Bukele on the social media platform X, saying that Mexican authorities first detected the plane about 200 km (120 miles) south of San Salvador, after which it ordered the military to intercept the suspicious flight. The map he posted also showed the plane’s route, although incomplete, over the Pacific Ocean.

Garcia Harfuch acknowledged that the men were Mexican and said they were facing criminal charges.

“We reiterate our respect and appreciation for the people of El Salvador,” he added.

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Former CBP Officer Sentenced for Smuggling Cocaine from the U.S. Virgin Islands to Atlanta

Ivan Van Beverhoudt, 45, a former U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, will serve a 20-year prison sentence following his convictions for importing and possessing with intent to distribute over 15 kilograms of cocaine.

“Van Beverhoudt betrayed his badge by committing one of the very crimes he was entrusted to prevent—smuggling dangerous drugs into our country,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. “Our office and its agency partners will hold accountable any law enforcement officer who abuses his authority for criminal ends, and Van Beverhoudt’s twenty-year sentence demonstrates that such abuse will be met with severe consequences.”

“This case highlights the severe repercussions for law enforcement officers who abuse their positions of trust,” said Steven N. Schrank, the Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Georgia and Alabama. “Ivan Van Beverhoudt’s attempt to smuggle over 15 kilograms of cocaine into the country was a grave violation, and thanks to the efforts of HSI and our partners, he will spend 20 years behind bars.”

According to U.S. Attorney Hertzberg, the charges, and other information presented in court: On January 10, 2020, Van Beverhoudt, a CBP officer, boarded a commercial flight from St. Thomas to Atlanta with 16 bricks of cocaine in his two carry-on bags. To avoid TSA screening in St. Thomas, Van Beverhoudt traveled in his official capacity with his loaded CBP-issued firearm. Upon arriving at the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, a CBP-trained narcotics K-9 officer in the jetway alerted to Van Beverhoudt’s luggage, which led to the discovery of the cocaine. 

On February 24, 2025, following a five-day jury trial, Van Beverhoudt was convicted of conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States, importation of cocaine into the United States, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. 

On July 8, 2025, United States District Judge J.P. Boulee sentenced Van Beverhoudt to 20 years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release. 

This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, with valuable assistance provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Inspector General. 

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‘What The F…’: Dem Governor Is at Complete Loss for Words After Being Asked About Cocaine Use

Democratic Governor Janet Mills of Maine appeared stunned and angry when she was confronted by a man who asked her about alleged cocaine use in her past during a recent public appearance.

Fox News reported the moment occurred last week during an event at Sunday River Resort in Newry, where Mills was taking photos with attendees.

An unidentified man approached the governor and posed a blunt question, which was caught on camera.

“Is sniffing cocaine at work a human right, Janet?” he asked, clearly referring to Mills’ past controversy.

Mills, who was caught off guard, responded, “What the f***?”

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US Reassesses Relations With Colombia As Crime And Cocaine Surge Under Leftist Regime 

The Trump administration recalled its top diplomat in Colombia, John McNamara, for “urgent consultations” on Thursday in response to what it described as “baseless and reprehensible” statements from senior Colombian officials. While the State Department did not specify which remarks prompted the move, it indicated that further actions would follow. In response, Colombian President Gustavo Petro recalled his country’s ambassador to the U.S., citing the need to reassess the bilateral relationship.

Tensions between the two nations have been rising, exacerbated by the recent shooting of opposition Senator Miguel Uribe, which U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio blamed on inflammatory rhetoric from Colombia’s far-left government.

Earlier in the year, President Petro refused to accept deportation flights from the U.S., prompting President Trump to threaten tariffs and sanctions; however, that dispute was ultimately defused. Colombian Foreign Minister Laura Sarabia resigned amid the diplomatic fallout. 

The deterioration in bilateral relations comes as Colombia’s security situation has deteriorated under President Petro’s leftist regime. Once a close ally of the U.S., Colombia has descended into crime and chaos, with coca cultivation surging. 

Coca cultivation rose 10% last year to 253,000 hectares — enough to produce more than 2,600 tons of the drug. The National Liberation Army, or ELN, capitalized on the boom, seizing full control of the Catatumbo region near the Venezuelan border, one of the world’s most prolific drug corridors. -Bloomberg

Petro’s “total peace” policy—centered on negotiating with drug cartels—has deeply frustrated the Trump administration, which has spent several months seeking to dismantle cartel command-and-control networks across the Americas to stop the flow of illicit drugs into the U.S. 

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Buried Report Reveals What Happened To Cocaine In Biden White House

Within hours of cocaine being discovered inside the West Wing of the Biden White House, security officials moved swiftly to make it disappear forever.

That’s the conclusion of an internal report, until recently buried, which sheds new light on how U.S. Secret Service agents serving the family of President Joe Biden made quick work of the evidence critical to an investigation which never revealed the source of the drugs. Even now, with Republicans controlling every lever of power in Washington, D.C., an audit of how the cocaine was handled has been hard to come by.

Only through dogged reporting by Susan Crabtree of RealClearInvestigations are new details coming to light.

Last month, Crabree reported that the Secret Service moved swiftly to destroy the bag of cocaine found inside a locker in the West Wing. A report by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, titled simply “Destruction,” shows that the drugs were incinerated within 24 hours of their discovery.

The document, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, doesn’t list a date when the cocaine was destroyed. But a chain of custody shows that the Secret Service turned the cocaine over to D.C. Fire Department hazmat technicians and the FBI for testing to authenticate it before retaking possession.

Two days later, the drugs were passed to the D.C. metropolitan police for destruction. The Secret Service closed its investigation into the matter nine days later.

Crabtree notes in her report that the D.C. police force owns an Environmental Protection Agency-approved incinerator which must be used for the destruction of narcotics. No entry date for the destruction of the cocaine was listed in the report.

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USSS Ordered Destruction Of White House Cocaine Day After Closing Case

Two years after the U.S. Secret Service discovered a bag of cocaine in the White House in July, 2023, documents showing orders for its destruction within 24 hours after the agency closed the case are raising new questions about the scrupulousness of the investigation.

A U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency document titled “Destruction” states that the bag of cocaine was sent to the Metropolitan Police Department for incineration. That document, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, doesn’t display a date for the destruction. But other internal Secret Service records show that the cocaine was tested by the Secret Service, the D.C. Fire Department hazmat technicians, and the FBI before being sent back to the Secret Service for storage on July 12. Two days later, it was transferred to the D.C. police department for destruction. The Secret Service shut down the cocaine investigation 11 days after discovering it.

The destruction of narcotics evidence must comply with environmental and safety regulations, and the D.C. police department has an Environmental Protection Agency-approved incinerator that federal agencies often use to destroy narcotics that are not involved in active legal cases.

D.C. police officials referred all questions about the cocaine’s apparent destruction to the FBI. There’s no entry or date for the cocaine’s actual destruction.

Early last week, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino announced that he was re-opening the investigation into the cocaine found in the White House, as well as the leak of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade and the discovery of a pipe bomb at the Democratic National Committee headquarters on Jan. 6, 2021.

Bongino reiterated his commitment to getting to the bottom of those cases in a Wednesday night interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity.

“Well, I get a kick out of it on social media,” Bongino said. “People say, ‘This case isn’t a big deal. I don’t care.’ Well, I care. … You don’t care that a [potentially] hazardous substance made its way into the White House? We didn’t know what it was, and we don’t seem to have answers? Well, we’re going to get them. I’ve got a great team on it.”

While the cocaine bag found in the White House appears to have been destroyed, internal Secret Service documents show that the agency retained and stored a second piece of evidence, an envelope of three tubes of DNA that the FBI attained from the plastic bag of cocaine. It’s unclear how much DNA those tubes contain, though the Secret Service has stood by its statements that the FBI found insufficient DNA to pursue any investigative leads.

When the Secret Service closed its investigation into who left the cocaine in the White House on July 13,  the agency issued a statement explaining its decision. Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi asserted that camera surveillance footage didn’t provide any “investigative leads or any other means for investigators to identify who may have deposited” the cocaine in the White House, adding that FBI laboratory results “did not develop latent fingerprints and insufficient evidence was present for investigative comparisons.”

But neither the FBI nor the Secret Service has publicly released the FBI laboratory results, and DNA experts say the only fool-proof way to demonstrate whether sufficient DNA existed on the baggie now to run against hits in national and state criminal DNA databases is to test it again.

“The only way to really tell, is to test it again and see what happens,” Gary Clayton Harmor, chief forensic DNA analyst at the Serological Research Institute in Richmond, California, told RCP. “Some labs will test anything, and others are more reluctant if they think it’s not a good enough sample to [test against national DNA databases]. The FBI, knowing them, they’re probably very conservative, and it may be that they said, ‘Nope, there’s not enough here to do anything meaningful with.’ It really depends on who’s doing the testing and how they did it.”

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Chicago Police Recruit Allegedly Found with Cocaine in Pocket

A Chicago Police Department recruit found himself in hot water during a training exercise after allegedly possessing crack cocaine. This incident unfolded during a narcotics arrest training scenario, as reported by CWB Chicago. The recruit’s surprising explanation for the discovery of the illicit substance has raised eyebrows among officials.

The scenario was intended to be a routine exercise, with recruits practicing search techniques. According to the report, a recruit discovered real crack cocaine while searching a fellow recruit’s pocket. The suspect offered a curious defense, claiming the pants were not his own but borrowed from his brother, who is also in law enforcement.

The training exercise involved a trainer providing recruits with a baggie marked with blue stars, simulating heroin. However, the recruit found a different baggie, clear and knotted, containing four smaller bags adorned with green dollar signs. Each of these smaller bags reportedly contained suspected crack cocaine.

In response to the discovery, the trainer questioned the recruit about the contents of the knotted baggie. The recruit initially dismissed it as “trash” before offering his explanation about the ownership of the pants. This bizarre claim has left officials perplexed as they continue their investigation.

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FBI Reopens Investigation Into Cocaine Found at Biden White House

The FBI on Monday announced it reopened the investigation into cocaine found at the White House.

“Shortly after swearing in, the Director and I evaluated a number of cases of potential public corruption that, understandably, have garnered public interest. We made the decision to either re-open, or push additional resources and investigative attention, to these cases. These cases are the DC pipe bombing investigation, the cocaine discovery at the prior administration’s White House, and the leak of the Supreme Court Dobbs case. I receive requested briefings on these cases weekly and we are making progress. If you have any investigative tips on these matters that may assist us then please contact the FBI,” FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said.

A baggy of cocaine was discovered in the West Wing after Hunter Biden visited the White House in early July 2023.

The Secret Service closed its investigation into the Biden White House cocaine scandal without conducting any interviews.

No suspect was identified.

According to CNN, the baggy of cocaine was “found in a blind spot for surveillance cameras.”

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Carlos Lehder reveals: Fidel and Raúl Castro facilitated Medellín Cartel drug trafficking from Cuba in the 1980s.

Carlos Lehder, co-founder of the Medellín Cartel and former ally of Pablo Escobar, has dropped a bombshell that the left and progressives don’t want to hear: the Cuban regime, led by Fidel and Raúl Castro, was a key ally in trafficking cocaine to the United States in the 1980s.

This truth, revealed exclusively by Martí Noticias, shatters the image of Cuba as a supposed revolutionary model and exposes the corruption and cynicism of a government that conservatives have always denounced.

While progressives in the U.S. and Europe were busy praising Castro, this regime was helping flood the streets with drugs, lining their pockets and betraying their own people.

Lehder is direct in pointing out the culprits. In his memoirs and interviews, he states:

I met with Raúl Castro and Colonel Antonio de la Guardia to negotiate the logistics of these operations.

He details how Cuba opened its doors to the Medellín Cartel, setting up airstrips in Cayo Largo and charging for every kilo of cocaine that passed through the island. And he leaves no doubt about who was in charge:

Fidel Castro had to know; he was the orchestra conductor.

This isn’t gossip; it’s the testimony of a drug trafficker who lived the business from the inside and now exposes the hypocrisy of the Castros.

For Republicans, this comes as no surprise. We’ve always seen the Cuban regime as a nest of opportunists who crush their people while engaging in dirty business. While the left romanticizes Fidel and Raúl, Lehder reveals the reality:

I was allowed to use facilities in Cayo Largo, where airstrips were set up and a payment was agreed upon for each kilo of cocaine transported.

That drug made its way to the streets, killing young people, all under a government that progressives defended as a «victim» of imperialism. What irony.

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