Tchamy Yala, a 42-year-old citizen of Guinea Bissau, was sentenced to five years in prison on April 28, 2014 in Manhattan federal court for participating in a conspiracy to import narcotics into the United States.
According to the indictment, Yala was arrested on April 2, 2013 by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Special Operations Division, Bilateral Investigative Unit Narco-Terrorism Group, and the DEA’s Foreign-deployed Advisory Support Team (FAST) off the coast of West Africa.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara stated, ‘With his sentence today, Yala is being held responsible for his integral role in an international scheme to traffic narcotics into the United States. I would like to thank the Drug Enforcement Administration for their outstanding work on this case.’
Yala, along with his co-defendants, former Guinea Bissau Naval Admiral Jose Americo Bubo Natchuto and Papis Djeme, engaged in a series of recorded meetings in Guinea Bissau with confidential sources working with the DEA. The meetings took place between summer 2012 and February 2013.
During the meetings, Yala and his co-defendants discussed the shipment of ton-quantities of cocaine from South America to Guinea Bissau by sea. Natchuto noted that the Guinea Bissau government was weak in light of the recent coup d’etat, making it an ideal time for the proposed cocaine transaction.
In addition to his prison term, Yala was sentenced to three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay a $100 special assessment. Yala’s co-defendant, Papis Djeme, was previously sentenced to 78 months in prison on September 3, 2014.
Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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