Jaminson Valencia Moreno, Cocaine Smuggling, Alabama 2023

A Colombian national has been sentenced to 135 months in prison for smuggling nearly a ton and a half of cocaine in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

On January 9, 2023, United States District Court Chief Judge Jeffrey U. Beaverstock handed down the sentence to Jaminson Valencia Moreno, who had previously pled guilty to the offense.

According to court documents, on January 11, 2022, a Marine Patrol Aircraft located a suspected drug smuggling vessel approximately 50 nautical miles south of Isla De Malpelo, Colombia. The United States Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) James was patrolling nearby and diverted to intercept.

The James developed reasonable suspicion of the vessel being without nationality, displaying no indicia of nationality, and drug trafficking in international waters. The Coast Guard cutter launched an intercept craft, which reported seeing bales on board consistent with contraband on the vessel.

The vessel had no physical flag flown, no registration documents, no registration number on the hull, no homeport on the hull, no name on the hull, and no other painted-on markings. The vessel was in fact a Vessel Without Nationality under United States law.

The USCG crew recovered approximately 1,315 kilograms of cocaine from the vessel. The defendant Jaminson Valencia Moreno conspired with two other men, Wilmer Orobio Payan and Osiber Vente Orobio, and others, to knowingly and intentionally possess with the intent to distribute the cocaine.

United States Attorney Sean P. Costello praised the outstanding work of the United States Coast Guard and federal investigators in interdicting and bringing these international drug smugglers to justice, noting ‘The wholesale value of the cocaine seized in this case is conservatively valued at approximately $40 million and seizures of drugs in these quantities have a material impact the operations of drug cartels.’

The case was investigated by the United States Coast Guard and the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney George F. May.

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