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7 Accused Of Using Sea Vessels To Smuggle Drugs

U.S. Navy

Coast Guard law enforcement officers survey the deck of the self-propelled, semi-submersible craft they seized Sept. 13. Seven tons of cocaine were removed from the vessel. Submersible vehicles are becoming popular with drug smugglers, officials say.

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TBO.com

Published: January 21, 2009

TAMPA - Seven men accused of using semi-submersible vessels, go-fast boats and other watercraft to smuggle drugs have been extradited from Colombia to the United States to face conspiracy charges, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

The men are: Humberto Cuevas-Salazar, 55; Edwin Alirio Periaza-Grueso, 27; Elkin De Jesus Quintero-Jimenez, 39; Jesus Antonio Ardila-Moreno, 48; Jorge Renteria-Cuero, 41; Willington Estupinan-Portocarrero, 35; and Hector Fabio Garcia-Vengohechea, 45.

The men, who made their first appearances in Tampa federal court Tuesday, are all charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and heroin. They face prison sentences that range from five years to life, federal prosecutors say.

Cuevas-Salazar is accused of organizing, building and using semi-submersible vessels to smuggle cocaine to the United States. The semi-submarines travel 99 percent below the sea surface and are becoming the vessel of choice for drug lords to smuggle drugs, prosecutors say.

Periaza-Grueso is connected to a large-scale maritime cocaine smuggling organization known as "Los Pescaditos" based on the west coast of Colombia, prosecutors say. The maritime smuggling organization has been operating for at least a decade, the attorney's office said.

Quintero-Jimenez and Ardila-Moreno are accused of selling cocaine and heroin to a confidential informant working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Colombia.

Prosecutors say Renteria-Cuero was the leader of a maritime cocaine smuggling group based on the Pacific coast of Colombia. The organization used go-fast boats and large fishing vessels to smuggle thousands of kilograms to the United States through Mexico, federal authorities say. Co-defendants Jose Desidero Montenegro-Jaramillo and Evert Ramirez-Estupinan have already been extradited to the United States and pleaded guilty Friday.

Estupinan-Portocarrero is accused of using two fishing boats, the Lina Maria and the San Jose, to smuggle cocaine into the United States in September 2004.

Garcia-Vengohechea is connected to a large-scale cocaine organization based in Colombia, prosecutors say. At least as early as 2002, the organization trafficked and imported cocaine into the United States and Haiti from Colombia and Venezuela, prosecutors say.

The investigations were conducted by the Panama Express South Strike Force, a Tampa-based operation aimed at Latin American maritime drug traffickers.

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