US tags MS-13 gang as major criminal network

For the first time, the US government has listed a street gang as an international criminal organisation.

Mara Salvatrucha – better known as MS-13 – is considered one of the fastest growing criminal networks in the world with thousands of members across the US and Latin America.

At least 30,000 of its members trade in drugs, kidnapping, human smuggling, blackmail and assassinations throughout Central America and Mexico.

Another 8,000 MS-13 followers are believed to operate in the US, where the group originated among young refugees in the streets of Los Angeles.

Al Jazeera’s Tom Ackerman reports from Washington.