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…