A Filipino seafarer was arrested in the US for allegedly smuggling 227 kilos of cocaine in an oil tanker inbound from Ecuador.
The US Justice Department said the narcotics were intended to be delivered to a Mexican drug cartel. The suspect was identified as Ceasar Tubay Gelacio, Jr., 43.He was arrested on Thursday (US time) and charged with importation of a controlled substance.
The US Justice Department said Gelacio was set to appear at the United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles.
According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, earlier this May, law enforcement received information that the Greek-owned and Liberian-flagged oil tanker Aquatravesia was inbound for the United States carrying quantities of drugs intended to be delivered to a Mexican cartel. Crew members discovered multiple packages hidden inside the ship’s garbage room that contained suspected narcotics.
The ship’s captain interviewed the crew and discovered that Gelacio allegedly smuggled the drugs. The captain seized the narcotics and secured them in a different room inside the ship.
The captain was informed that while the Aquatravesia was in Mexican waters, small naval crafts with armed Mexican cartel members would be waiting 80 nautical miles from the shore on the evening of May 14 and the early morning of May 15.
If the drugs were not delivered at this time, additional crafts would be waiting in Mexican waters to board the oil tanker and recover the contraband.The captain also reported receiving what he believed were radio calls from the cartel attempting to hail the Aquatravesia prior to a boarding or takeover.
US law enforcement directed the Aquatravesia to navigate the ship to the combined port of Los Angeles and Long Beach, where it would board the oil tanker. The ship anchored in the directed area on Thursday.
Once on board, US authorities confiscated 227 kilograms of cocaine.
If convicted, Gelacio would face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in a federal prison and a statutory maximum sentence of life imprisonment.The US Justice Department said Homeland Security Investigations and the United States Coast Guard are investigating the case.
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