Savannah, GA – In a major blow to international cocaine trafficking, Agim Cerma, a 54-year-old Albanian citizen living in Colombia, has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for his role in a conspiracy to transport cocaine aboard U.S.-registered aircraft.
According to U.S. Attorney Jill E. Steinberg, Cerma was the leader of the drug trafficking organization and was planning to transport hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Cali, Colombia, to Europe via a U.S.-registered aircraft, hoping to avoid additional scrutiny given to Colombian-flagged aircraft.
The scheme involved the payment of corrupt airport employees, production of more than 300 kilograms of cocaine from a lab in Colombia, and payments toward the organization and execution of the scheme at approximately $300,000 in U.S. Currency.
Cerma was arrested in Colombia in July 2021 and extradited to the United States in September 2023. Four Colombian co-defendants were also extradited to the United States, and three of them have entered guilty pleas in U.S. District Court.
Jairo Fernando Cardona Lopez has been sentenced to 175 months in prison, Edwin Durlandy Montilla Gonzalez to 150 months in prison, and Pedro Antonio Penagos Londono to 48 months. William Cruz Perez, the fourth co-defendant, is awaiting trial and is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
The case was investigated under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and was led by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service, United States Customs and Border Protection, and the Georgia Ports Authority.
The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section’s Judicial Attaché’s office at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota provided significant assistance in securing the arrests and extraditions from Colombia.
Cerma was sentenced to 240 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and will be deported as part of his release conditions.
There is no parole in the federal system.
Cerma pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy to transport cocaine aboard U.S.-registered aircraft.
The exact criminal charges against Agim Cerma were not specified in the source material.
The city and state where the crime took place is Savannah, Georgia.
The exact date of the crime was not specified in the source material.
The dollar amount of the scheme was approximately $300,000 in U.S. Currency.
The outcome of the case was that Agim Cerma was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.
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Key Facts
- State: Georgia
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Fraud & Financial Crimes|Violent Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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