SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – U.S. Coast Guard intercepted a vessel with no indicia of nationality on December 5, 2019 attempting to smuggle more than 600 kilograms of cocaine, with an approximated street value of 14 million dollars south of La Romana, Dominican Republic. Coast Guard Cutter (CGC) RELIANCE responded for law enforcement action and three individuals were arrested. The Caribbean Corridor Strike Force is in charge of the investigation of the case.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Silvia Carreño-Coll authorized a complaint charging Jorge Luiz De La Cruz-Acevedo, Freddy Gerardo Fernández-Breth, and Simon Antonio Patino-Rivero with possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance on board a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, announced W. Stephen Muldrow, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico.  

Custody of the defendants and the narcotics were transferred over to Special Agents of DEA for further investigation and prosecution. This case is part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program and the Caribbean Corridor Strike Force (CCSF). The CCSF is a multi-agency OCDETF strike force comprised of federal and state law enforcement agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Coast Guard, U.S. Marshals Service, Internal Revenue Service, and the Puerto Rico Department of Public Safety.

In a different interdiction that occurred on December 10, 2019, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection/Border Patrol (CBP) surveillance unit spotted a suspected target of interest while conducting border security patrol along the western coast of Puerto Rico. CBP Unit continued surveillance of the vessel while contacting and relaying its position to the Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD) Maritime Unit (FURA) to assist with the interdiction. Soon thereafter PRPD FURA “COBRA 54” unit located and stopped the vessel at one (1) nautical mile from Crash Boat Beach in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. The five persons on board, Jesús Ramón Concepción-Guerrero, Miguel Ángel Pourie-Portalatín, Riky Laureano-Ruiz, Israel Herrera-Herrera, and José Manuel Ruiz-Mercedes, and the vessel were detained and towed to the PRPD FURA Unit in Añasco, PR.

After further inspection of the vessel a total of 161 bricks weighing 181.90 kilograms of cocaine were seized, with an approximated street value of four million twenty-five thousand dollars ($4,025,000). U.S. Magistrate Judge Silvia Carreño-Coll authorized a complaint charging the five individuals with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five (5) kilograms or more of cocaine and possession with intent to distribute five (5) kilograms or more of cocaine.

“During the past two weeks federal and local law enforcement worked together to intercept hundreds of kilograms of cocaine before they reached our shores,” said W. Stephen Muldrow, US Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. “We cannot, and will not, halt our efforts to protect our borders from drug trafficking.”

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Vanessa Bonhomme and César Rivera-Giraud are in charge of the prosecution of the cases. If convicted the defendants face a minimum sentence of 10 years up to life in prison. 

Criminal complaints contain only charges and are not evidence of guilt. Defendants are presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty.

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