Mexico arrests 6 alleged Tren de Aragua gang members

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MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities said Tuesday they had arrested six alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang in Mexico City for crimes related to drug trafficking, extortion and human trafficking.

The announcement came a day after President Claudia Sheinbaum and U.S. President Donald Trump spoke of their governments’ ongoing collaboration against drug cartels.

The Trump administration designated Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organization last year, and alleged it had ties with Venezuela's now-deposed President Nicolás Maduro. The U.S. government has also targeted some boats in the Caribbean that it alleges were carrying drugs for the gang.

Mexico’s Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch announced the arrests on social media but did not provide nationalities.

The arrests of one woman and five men were carried out after surveillance on several buildings in the capital. Drugs, a gun and a notebook recording extortion in the city were seized.

The Tren de Aragua gang started more than a decade ago in a Venezuelan prison. It gained global notoriety after Trump placed it at the center of his anti-immigrant narrative. The gang has expanded in recent years as nearly 8 million Venezuelans fled economic turmoil and migrated to other Latin American countries or the U.S.