Federal Agents Seize $6.4 Million Cocaine on Oil Tanker, Arrest 1 at Los Angeles Port
Updated
Updated · Fox News · May 23
Federal Agents Seize $6.4 Million Cocaine on Oil Tanker, Arrest 1 at Los Angeles Port
4 articles · Updated · Fox News · May 23
$6.4 million worth of cocaine—about 500 pounds or 226 kilograms—was seized Thursday from the crude oil tanker Aquatravesia at the Port of Los Angeles, and Philippine crewman Ceasar Tubay Gelacio Jr., 43, was charged.
HSI and the Coast Guard boarded the Greek-owned, Liberian-flagged vessel after intelligence said it was carrying drugs from Ecuador for a Mexican cartel; a narcotics dog alerted agents, who found packages hidden in the ship’s garbage room.
Court papers say the captain identified Gelacio after interviewing crew members, moved the drugs elsewhere on the ship, and was told cartel boats would try to collect the load about 80 nautical miles offshore in Mexican waters.
U.S. authorities instead directed the tanker to Los Angeles-Long Beach, where agents boarded it; prosecutors said cartel members had also made radio contact with the ship, and DHS said two additional people were taken into custody.
Gelacio is accused of receiving the narcotics in Ecuador and planning to pass them off near Mexico; if convicted of importation of a controlled substance, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
What drives an oil tanker crewman to risk a life sentence smuggling for a cartel?
How does a $6.4 million cocaine loss impact a cartel's vast global drug empire?
Can U.S.-backed drug seizures reverse Ecuador's spiraling narco-violence crisis?