- Cesar Caballero recruited sailors to place tracking devices on Navy boats
- Boats filled with cocaine followed Colombian Navy vessels to the US
- Caballero will serve 15 years in prison
A former Colombian Navy lieutenant has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
In exchange for money, Cesar Augusto Romero Caballero, 35, recruited active-duty members of the Colombian Navy to plant GPS devices in Colombian Navy vessels. This allowed criminal organizations to use the location data to direct boats with cocaine to the United States around Colombian Navy ships and patrols.
“This foreign national committed serious crimes to enable the flow of drugs into our country,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “This sentencing reflects the Department of Justice’s ironclad commitment to not only hunting down criminals, but ensuring that they suffer severe legal consequences following their apprehension.”
The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and Colombia’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug division assisted in the investigation. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida prosecuted the case.
The case was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces Strike Force Initiative, which allows for multiple agencies to work together on cases to dismantle drug traffickers and other criminal organizations.
