Two colombian nationals plead guilty in massive cocaine smuggling operation to the u. S.

TAMPA, Fla. — Two Colombian men have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States, following a years-long investigation into an international drug trafficking network, U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced Thursday.

Jorge Hernan Gonzalez-Ortiz, 50, and Carlos Andres Aldana-Gil, 43, both Colombian nationals, face a maximum sentence of life in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.

According to court documents, Gonzalez-Ortiz led a drug trafficking organization in Colombia from 2016 to 2023 that smuggled cocaine on commercial airplanes. The group concealed cocaine in boxes of fruit loaded onto planes at Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport in Cali, Colombia, destined for Gustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport on San Andrés Island. Corrupt Colombian police officers helped unload the drugs, which were then transported by boat to Nicaragua or Honduras before continuing to Mexico and the United States.

The organization smuggled cocaine on at least 27 commercial flights from Cali, totaling more than 43,000 kilograms of cocaine.

Aldana-Gil managed logistics for the operation between 2021 and 2023. He coordinated the transport of cocaine to the airport, bribed an airport security supervisor to divert cameras, and paid workers to alter cargo manifests and load the drugs onto planes. The operation was disrupted on July 29, 2023, when Colombian police intercepted one of the shipments after it landed in San Andrés.

The case is part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Panama Express Strike Force, a joint effort involving the DEA, FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Coast Guard Investigative Service.

The investigation received assistance from the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, the Colombian National Police, and other Colombian agencies. Assistant U.S. Attorney David J. Pardo is prosecuting the case.

A high-level Colombian drug network has been dismantled after smuggling over 43 tons of cocaine into the U.S. over seven years.

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