-Published: Tuesday, December 17, 2019-




By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services

A federal judge in Tampa, Florida, has sentenced a Colombian man to over 24 years and 4 months in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine while onboard a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

The 47-year-old man was identified by the last names of  Andrade-Caceres.

According to court records, since at least 2014 Andrade-Caceres was an organizer and leader of a Cali, Columbia-based drug-trafficking organization engaged in the maritime transportation of large quantities of cocaine from Colombia to Panamá and then to Costa Rica using small go-fast style vessels.

Andrade directed, managed, and oversaw virtually all aspects of the maritime cocaine-smuggling operation, including organizing and supervising at least 12 maritime cocaine smuggling ventures, two of which were blocked by the U. S. Coast Guard, the court record said.

Andrade was indicted May 4, 2017, arrested in Colombia, and subsequently extradited to the United States. Last May he pleaded guilty to the offense.

In 2015 and 2016, the U.S. Coast Guard captured two go-fast smuggling vessels dispatched from Colombia. During those operations the Coast Guard seized approximately 684 kilograms of cocaine. The crewmen aboard these vessels were arrested and prosecuted in the Middle District of Florida. That is the same jurisdiction where  Federal District Judge Steven D. Merryday issued the sentence Thursday.

This case was investigated by the Panamá Express Strike Force, an organized crime drug enforcement task force comprised of agents and analysts from the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the U.S. Southern Command's Joint Interagency Task Force South.

The Office of International Affairs of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice provided significant support with the defendant’s extradition, said the U.S. Justice Department is announcing the sentencing.

The principal mission of the organized crime drug enforcement task force program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and those primarily responsible for the nation’s drug supply.

The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas DeRenzo.

More information on this case can be found at U.S. Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Florida, site







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