Colombians convicted in cocaine case

The nine sailors were caught smuggling six tons of the drug. Several other Colombians face other cocaine smuggling charges.

By GRAHAM BRINK, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published October 2, 2002

TAMPA -- Tuesday was a busy day at the federal courthouse for Colombians accused of smuggling cocaine.

On one floor, a jury convicted nine Colombian sailors of smuggling six tons of cocaine. On another floor, four more Colombians made their first appearance in federal court after being accused of trying to smuggle cocaine on a speed boat.

The convictions came after six days of trial surrounding the U.S. Coast Guard's capture of the Punta Del Este in late May in the eastern Pacific. A search revealed the cocaine, worth about $100-million, hidden in a fuel tank, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tampa.

The sailors -- Angel Neri Estrada-Tello, Arcesio Caicedo-Montano, Julio Cesar Diago, Marco Antonio Araujo-Estrada, Yimy Araujo-Estrada, Sigifredo Oliveros-Estupinan, Edgar Fernando Ramos, Ruben Orlando Escobar and Wilfredo Florez-Montano -- face between 20 years and life in prison.

"The U.S. Coast Guard conducted a very thorough search in this investigation and uncovered a well-hidden supply of illegal drugs," U.S. Attorney Paul Perez said in a statement. "Thanks to their diligence these smugglers are behind bars, and the drugs were kept from reaching the shores of our country and the streets of our communities."

In the other case, the four men who made their first appearances in court Tuesday were arrested after they tried to evade the U.S. Coast Guard in the eastern Pacific near South America on Sept. 21, court documents stated. The Coast Guard saw them throwing bales of cocaine overboard. Eventually, the Coast Guard recovered 1,379 pounds of cocaine from the ocean.

The men -- Felipe Cortez, Jose Daniel Vallecilla, Aleydo Gonzalez and Nicolas Valverde -- face two counts of maritime drug smuggling.

Their arrests came four days after the Coast Guard chased down another speed boat and arrested four other men -- Elpidio Enriquez, Juan Ruiz Reyes, Wilfredo Cuero and Angel Moreno -- after they, too, pitched bales of cocaine overboard, court records stated.

The arrests are part of what has been dubbed Operation Panama Express, a continuing investigation in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean, which has resulted in the confiscation of more than 135 tons of cocaine and more than 200 arrests. Many of the cases have been tried in Tampa.

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