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Security and rescue military service branch for U.S. waters
The Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (MDLEA) is a U.S. federal statute enacted in 1986 (as part of broader anti‑drug legislation) that makes drug trafficking on the high seas a crime against the Unit...
The United States seized a sanctioned oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast in early December 2025, an action Washington says targeted a vessel used to move sanctioned Venezuelan and Iranian crude; Venezue...
Venezuelan-linked traffickers have been implicated in maritime flows across both the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, using coastal hubs like Sucre and Margarita Island and routes toward the Eastern Car...
U.S. authorities executed a federal seizure warrant to take control of a crude oil tanker believed to have been used to move sanctioned oil between Venezuela and Iran; Attorney General Pam Bondi said ...
Recent government and reporting data point to Colombia as the principal source of cocaine that reaches the United States: UN and Reuters reporting says Colombia was the source for most drugs crossing ...
Contemporary online posts claim Senator Chuck Schumer voted “Yes” on the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act as part of the 1986 Anti‑Drug Abuse legislation; the MDLEA was enacted within the Anti‑Drug A...
U.S. statutory authority for using force at sea against non‑state drug traffickers centers on the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (MDLEA) and related statutes that let the Coast Guard and other agen...
U.S. forces have struck and destroyed multiple vessels they described as drug-smuggling boats departing Venezuela; reporting shows roughly 18–21 strikes and 70–83 people killed as of mid‑ to late‑Nove...
The Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (MDLEA) was enacted in 1986 as part of the Anti‑Drug Abuse legislative package and expanded U.S. jurisdiction to prosecute drug crimes on vessels on the high seas...
Drug traffickers move cocaine and other narcotics from South America toward Central America, Mexico, Europe and the U.S. using a mix of small fast “go‑fast” boats, disguised fishing and merchant vesse...
Since 2020 the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (MDLEA) has been central to a surge of high‑seas interdictions: U.S. agencies increasingly rely on MDLEA to prosecute foreign nationals seized on state...
The viral claim that Senator Chuck Schumer "voted for the 2006 law expanding authority to stop drug smuggling boats" is inaccurate as stated: the reporting collected here ties Schumer to the Maritime ...
The Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (MDLEA) was passed in 1986 as part of the U.S. Anti‑Drug Abuse legislative package and made drug trafficking on vessels subject to U.S. law; it explicitly crimina...
Available reporting says U.S. forces have destroyed or struck a series of small vessels in the Caribbean since early September 2025, and that U.S. officials have identified multiple of those craft as ...
The most consistently reported drug moved by vessels linked to Venezuela is , often in large maritime shipments; marijuana is also documented historically, while claims that Venezuelan boats routinely...
The United States Coast Guard cannot lawfully board a foreign-flagged merchant vessel on the high seas without consent in most circumstances; , with narrow exceptions such as piracy, statelessness, sl...
U.S. officials and senior administration figures said a U.S. operation seized a large oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast on Dec. 10, 2025; Attorney General Pam Bondi and multiple outlets say the FBI, Ho...
Available reporting on the Dec. 10, 2025 U.S. seizure of the oil tanker identified as Skipper describes a Coast Guard–led boarding of a sanctioned vessel alleged to be part of a “shadow fleet” moving ...
The US Coast Guard can interdict, board, and seize vessels suspected of violating US law on the high seas under domestic statutes and bilateral/multilateral agreements, but . Recent incidents and expe...
States generally may not stop or seize foreign-flagged vessels on the high seas except in narrowly defined cases—piracy, slave trade, illegal broadcasting, and where a vessel’s flag state consents or ...