Thread: Multi-Ton Cocaine Seizure from Drug Smuggling Vessel

Multi-Ton Cocaine Seizure from Interdicted Drug Smuggling Vessel

U.S. Attorney’s Office October 28, 2011
Middle District of Florida(813) 274-6000

TAMPA, FL—United States Attorney Robert E. O’Neill announces the recovery of an estimated 6,700 kilograms of cocaine from a submerged drug smuggling vessel in the Caribbean Sea. The vessel, a self-propelled semi-submersible vessel, or SPSS, was interdicted by the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) MOHAWK on September 30, 2011, in international waters of the Caribbean some 110 miles off of the coast of Honduras. The vessel sank during the interdiction, and USCGC MOHAWK detained the four crew members, who were later transferred to Tampa for prosecution.

Shortly after the interdiction, a multi-agency effort began to recover the suspected drug cargo of the sunken SPSS. This effort included the deployment of the FBI Laboratory’s Technical Dive Team, located in Quantico, Virginia, which conducted dive operations at the site of the submerged vessel from USCGC CYPRESS. These operations yielded evidence including packages of cocaine totaling an estimated 6,700 kilograms from the SPSS.

Today, this evidence arrived at Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg aboard USCGC CYPRESS, where it will be transferred to the custody of investigators of the Panama Express Strike Force. The crew of the SPSS (Jorge Colomer, 47, of Honduras; Guilforth Romero, 24, of Honduras; Manuel Cuero, 30, of Colombia; and Marcos Salazar, 30, of Colombia) have been indicted by a federal grand jury in the Middle District of Florida for violation of the Drug Trafficking Vessel Interdiction Act of 2008 and are being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tampa. If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison.

A similar recovery operation earlier this year yielded over 6,000 kilograms of cocaine from an interdicted SPSS that also sank in the Caribbean. The crew of that vessel is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tampa.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of the federal criminal laws, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

This case is being investigated by OCDETF’s Panama Express Strike Force, comprised of agents and analysts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, United States Coast Guard Investigative Service, Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, and Joint Interagency Task Force South. It will be prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Austin Shutt.

FBI.gov is an official site of the U.S. Federal Government, U.S. Department of Justice

http://www.fbi.gov/tampa/press-releases ... tent=41573

U.S. law enforcement strike force intercepts two drug-laden submarines

Wed, 2011-11-02 08:36 AM
By: Mark Rockwell

Two small submarines carrying tons of cocaine and marijuana were intercepted in the Caribbean on their way to U.S. shores by a federal cross-agency task force in October.

The Panama Express Strike Force, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Oct. 31, took custody of 19,720 pounds of cocaine on Oct. 28 in a case that is being pursued by the team of investigators, which includes special agents from ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). The task force is made up of agents and analysts from ICE HSI, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office and the Joint Interagency Task Force South.

The drugs were recovered from a submerged drug smuggling vessel in the Caribbean Sea that had been intercepted by U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mohawk, said ICE. The SPSS, said the agency, was initially spotted on Sept. 30 in international waters some 110 miles off of the coast of Honduras. It sank during the encounter, said ICE. Afterwards, the Mohawk detained the four crew members, who were later transferred to Tampa for prosecution.

Drug smugglers are increasingly using the self-propelled submersibles, building them in the jungles of central America and loading them with illicit cargo to evade U.S. border agencies. The U.S. Coast Guard’s initial encounter with what ICE and other U.S. law enforcement agencies call a self-propelled semi-submersible vessel, or SPSS, was in July, according to reports.

ICE said a multi-agency effort to recover the SPSS’ cargo began shortly after its sinking. The operation included the deployment of the FBI's Technical Dive Team located in Quantico, VA, which conducted dive operations at the site of the submerged vessel.

ICE noted the recovery effort was the second done on an SPSS this year. It said a similar operation “earlier this yearâ€