U.K. withholds intelligence on alleged drug boats over U.S. strikes, sources say

The United Kingdom has stopped sharing intelligence on suspected drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean due to concerns about the legality of recent U.S. military strikes, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.

A British government spokesperson in London declined to say directly whether the U.K. had suspended some information exchanges with Washington.

“It is our long-standing policy not to comment on intelligence matters,” the Downing Street spokesperson said in an email. “The United States is our closest security and intelligence ally. We continue to work together to maintain global peace and security, defend freedom of navigation, and respond to emerging threats.”

CNN was the first to report the suspension of intelligence sharing on drug trafficking vessels in Latin America.

The CIA declined to comment. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Britain is the United States’ most important intelligence partner in a spy alliance of five English-speaking democracies known as the “Five Eyes,” which also includes Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

Britain, France and the Netherlands have territories in the Caribbean and have long worked with the United States and other regional governments to try to stem drug trafficking. Over the past decade, cocaine trafficking to Europe from South America via the Caribbean has increased, according to government reports and experts.

Former military lawyers, legal experts and Democrats in Congress say the strikes violate international and U.S. laws that prohibit the use of military force to target civilians. They argue that drug gangs do not meet the legal standards of an armed group at war with the United States.

The topic of U.S. military attacks on suspected drug trafficking boats was raised at a meeting in Canada of foreign ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized democracies, Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign affairs chief, told NBC News.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied Wednesday that Britain had stopped sharing intelligence. He also said his counterparts did not discuss the U.S. military campaign in Latin America or intelligence support for the operation during the discussions.

“Not with me, no one talked about it,” Rubio told reporters after the meeting in Niagara-on-the-Lake, near the U.S. border.

“This didn’t happen just once,” Rubio said.

He added: “Again, nothing has changed or happened that in any way hinders our ability to do what we do, and we are not asking anyone to help us in what we do – in any area. And that includes the military.”

Asked about European concerns about whether the United States was following international law with its boat strikes, Rubio said it was up to the United States to safeguard its security.

“I don’t think the European Union can determine what international law is. What it certainly can’t determine is how the United States defends its national security,” Rubio said.

“The United States is under attack from organized crime and narcoterrorists in our hemisphere, and the president is responding by defending our country. »

Asked whether the Canadian government was refusing to share intelligence on drug trafficking in Latin America with Washington, Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand told reporters Wednesday: “The United States has made it clear that it uses its own intelligence. We are not involved in the operations you are referring to.”

Canadian intelligence services did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

NATO allies have said little publicly about President Donald Trump’s military campaign in the Caribbean and Pacific, marking the first time a U.S. commander in chief has treated drug traffickers as military adversaries at “war” with the United States.

Regarding the legality of the strikes, a spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters on Tuesday: “Decisions on this are a matter for the United States. Whether or not something contravenes international law is a matter for a competent international court, not governments. »

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot expressed concerns on Tuesday about the legal basis for US military strikes.

“We have followed with concern the strikes carried out by the United States in international waters, in defiance of international law and the law of the sea,” Barrot told French newspaper La Journal du Dimanche.

Barrot added that “we cannot allow these anarchic criminal networks to prosper” and that “France does not hesitate to deploy its military resources to intercept drug traffickers’ ships, in close cooperation with the countries concerned…”.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said last month that there was no justification for the strikes under international law.

“These attacks – and their growing human cost – are unacceptable. The United States must end such attacks and take all necessary measures to prevent the extrajudicial execution of people aboard these boats, regardless of the criminal conduct they are accused of,” Turk said in a statement.

The Trump administration, however, maintains that drug cartels pose a threat to American national security by transporting narcotics into the United States that kill tens of thousands of people each year. The administration has designated several cartels in Venezuela, Mexico and elsewhere as foreign terrorist organizations.

The strikes, which began in early September, left at least 75 dead, according to figures announced by the Pentagon.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Tuesday ordered his country’s security forces to stop sharing intelligence with Washington until the Trump administration ends strikes against suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean.

In an article on X, Petro wrote that the Colombian military must immediately end “communications and other agreements with U.S. security agencies.”

The Trump administration has portrayed Petro as incapable of cracking down on drug traffickers and criticized his decision not to extradite Colombian rebel leaders involved in drug trafficking to the United States.