The compatriot tried to enter 430 kilos of cocaine camouflaged on a ship in 2020. He can even be sentenced to life imprisonment.
MIAMI. A federal jury Miami found guilty a Ecuadorian citizen and two Colombians from trafficking of more than 400 kilograms of cocaine in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the Florida Middle Judicial District Attorney’s Office reported on March 17, 2022.
Luis Elías Angulo Leones, 29 years old and originally from Ecuadorand Jhonis Alexis Landazuri Arboleda, 33, and Dilson Daniel Arboleda Quiñones, 25, both from Colombia, formally charged in 2020, each face prison sentences ranging from a minimum of 10 years to life imprisonment in a federal prison.
The judge in the case, in Tampa (west coast of Florida), will impose a sentence on June 15.
According to trial testimony, a US Coast Guard helicopter spotted a 35-foot (10.6-meter) open-hull boat in the Pacific Ocean, about 100 miles from the nearest point of land.
The coastguard suspected that this boat was used to drug trafficbecause it had multiple engines, multiple fuel containers on deck, and operated without navigation lights at dusk, and they sent a small boat to investigate.
On board the boat, which was unflagged and therefore subject to US jurisdiction, they found the three defendants and 430 kilograms of cocaineworth $12.9 million, hidden under the deck of the ship.
This case was investigated by the United States Coast Guard and the Panama Express Strike Force, part of the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF).
OCDETF identifies, intercepts and dismantles the highest level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a multi-agency approach led by prosecutors and driven by intelligence, according to a statement. EFE
