By: Staff Writer
November 14, 2025
The United Kingdom is no longer sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in US military strikes and believes the attacks are illegal, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
The UK’s decision marks a significant break from its closest ally and intelligence sharing partner and underscores the growing skepticism over the legality of the US military’s campaign around Latin America.
For years, the UK, which controls a number of territories in the Caribbean where it bases intelligence assets, has helped the US locate vessels suspected of carrying drugs so that the US Coast Guard could interdict them, the sources said. That meant the ships would be stopped, boarded, its crew detained, and drugs seized.
The intelligence was typically sent to Joint Interagency Task Force South, a task force stationed in Florida that includes representatives from a number of partner nations and works to reduce the illicit drug trade.
Britain controls several territories in the Caribbean, where it bases intelligence assets, and has long assisted the US in identifying vessels suspected of smuggling narcotics.
That information helped the US Coast Guard locate the ships, seize drugs and detain crews, CNN cited sources as saying, but officials are concerned the Trump administration’s actions may be illegal.
The intelligence-sharing pause began more than a month ago, CNN reported, quoting sources as saying Britain shares UN human rights chief Volker Turk’s assessment that the strikes amount to extrajudicial killing.
Before the US military began blowing up boats in September, countering illicit drug trafficking was handled by law enforcement and the US Coast Guard, Cartel members and drug smugglers were treated as criminals with due process rights — something the UK was happy to help with.
But the Trump administration has argued that the US military can legally kill suspected traffickers because they pose an imminent threat to Americans and are “enemy combatants” who are in an “armed conflict” with the US, according to a memo sent by the administration to Congress.