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21 February 2006

United States Arrests Four Colombians for Alleged Drug Conspiracy

Members of cocaine drug ring arrested near Panama, U.S. customs agency says

By Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- U.S. authorities have arrested four Colombian nationals off the coast of Panama on charges of engaging in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine with a street value of more than $90 million, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency announced.

In a February 17 statement, ICE said that if convicted of the charges, the defendants -- Abel Pardo Salguedo, Alberto Cortes, Dionisio Velez Tarquino and Carlos Arturo Moreno -- face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years' imprisonment and a maximum sentence of life in prison.

ICE said that on February 6, U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement officers on board a U.S. patrol ship stopped and boarded the fishing vessel Victoria, in international waters, about 40 nautical miles north of Panama.  During a search of the fishing vessel, the officers discovered about 1001 kilograms of cocaine (one ton).  The four Colombian crewmembers on the vessel were arrested.

According to the complaint affidavit filed in a U.S. federal court in Miami, the Coast Guard found the cocaine in a hidden compartment on board the Victoria.  The access to the hidden compartment was located in the pilothouse of the vessel and the area appeared to have been painted recently, said ICE, which is the investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  The complaint also alleged that the crew of the Victoria attempted to sink their vessel by allowing seawater into the engine room.  In addition, the Victoria crew attempted to ram the U.S. patrol ship before being stopped, according to the affidavit.

U.S. authorities said stopping the Colombians in this case is an example of continued U.S. drug interdiction operations in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.  (See related article.)

Jesus Torres, ICE special agent in charge in Miami, said that "global criminal organizations that flood American streets with deadly contraband, that spread violence in our neighborhoods, and that exploit U.S. financial systems to cleanse their dirty money, pose a direct threat to the homeland security of the United States.  We will continue working closely with our law enforcement partners in our efforts to dismantle them." 

The U.S. State Department said in a report that Panama's geographic position and well-developed transportation infrastructure makes it a "major transshipment point for narcotics from the Andean Region to the United States and Europe.”

The State Department said in its International Narcotics Control Strategy Report -- 2005 that excellent cooperation exists between U.S. and Panamanian law enforcement agencies to stem the flow of narcotics, illegal firearms and money.  The section of the report dealing with Canada, Mexico and Central America is available on the State Department Web site.

For information on U.S. policy in the region, see Central America.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)