Colombian man sentenced to more than 15 years for drug trafficking

Jhon Zambrano Caicedo, 37, was sentenced to 15 years and eight months in prison for attempting to smuggle more than $55 million worth of cocaine on the high seas, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced Friday. He entered a guilty plea in March for conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine on a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, according to the DHS. He was convicted in a U.S. federal court for a similar offense in 2016, involving smaller qualities of cocaine.

What happened? Aircraft patrol spotted a boat in the Pacific Ocean about 60 miles north of Ecuador and suspected it was being used to smuggle drugs, the DHS reported. The boat was suspect because it had several fuel barrels, no registration numbers on the hull, was traveling fast, and was sailing in an area where drug smuggling is common. U.S. Coast Guard members and law enforcement officers were deployed in a helicopter, and they intercepted Zambrano and the other two men on the boat. Zambrano was detained Sept. 14, 2023, court documents show.

Dig deeper: Read Leo Briceno’s report on the impeachment of U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in January.