CHARLOTTE AMALIE — Two men from Ecuador were given 6.5-year prison terms for trafficking cocaine last December, authorities said.
Mario Montano Camacho, 41, and Juan Ignacio Reyes Delgado, 48, were each sentenced to 78 months of incarceration by Chief U.S. Judge Robert A. Molloy after pleading guilty to possession with intent to distribute cocaine while on board a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, U.S. Attorney Delia L. Smith said.
A third defendant, Edison Quijije Cuzme, 35, also of Ecuador, was sentenced to 78 months earlier this month following his guilty plea to the same charge.
All three defendants are subject to deportation after serving their prison sentences.
According to court documents, on December 22, 2023, while on routine patrol in the Eastern Pacific, the United States Coast Guard Cutter Resolute intercepted a go-fast vessel approximately 110 nautical miles west of Ecuador.
The vessel was in international waters traveling at a high rate of speed with no flag being flown and displaying no indicia of nationality.
Coast Guard officials further observed that, while pursuing the vessel, the occupants were throwing packages overboard.
The go-fact vessel was subdued and treated as one without nationality after the Ecuadorian government could neither confirm nor deny its nationality.
Several packages containing approximately 1,261 kilograms of cocaine were later recovered from the
ocean
This case was investigated by the United States Coast Guard and the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA). It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Yasir Sadat.
