St. Croix, VI – A Venezuelan boat captain has been sentenced to 65 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to possess cocaine on board a vessel.
Vicent Mata Anyelo, 33, was the captain of the La Gran Tormenta, a 55-foot vessel intercepted by the United States Coast Guard (USCG) on September 25, 2019, approximately 38 nautical miles south of St. Croix.
According to court documents, the USCG Cutter Donald Horsley intercepted the suspicious vessel and attempted to engage with the crew, but they failed to respond and began jettisoning packages.
Crew members from the USCG Cutter Donald Horsley retrieved two bales from the water, which contained packages with brick-shaped objects that were laboratory tested and found to contain approximately 49 kilograms of cocaine hydrochloride (powder cocaine).
After requesting and receiving permission to stop the vessel from Venezuela, the flag state, USCG personnel attempted a right-of-visit boarding, but the crew disregarded the USCG’s instructions.
A USCG counter-drug boarding team later encountered 11 persons, including the defendant, and obtained control of the La Gran Tormenta through the use of an entanglement tactic.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and Customs and Border Protection.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa P. Ortiz is prosecuting the case, which is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation.
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Key Facts
- State: Virgin Islands
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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