The US sentenced an Ecuadorian drug trafficker extradited from Colombia to 16 years in prison
Pinargote-Baquerizo was extradited to the United States on March 2, .
Photo: RICHARD BOUHET / AFP / Getty Images
By: EFE Updated 04 Dec , 9: 22 am EST
The Ecuadorian José Luis-Pinargote Baquerizo , of 16 years and extradited to the US by the Colombian authorities, he was sentenced by a Florida federal judge to more than 16 years in jail for cocaine trafficking, judicial sources reported.
Pinargote-Baquerizo is considered responsible for traffic of more than 7,675 kilograms of cocaine, with an approximate value of 675 million dollars, which were taken from Colombia to Mexico by sea in three operations from 2019 to 2022.
District Judge Charlene E. Honeywell sentenced the Ecuadorian, who had pleaded guilty in last August, to 16 years and 4 months in federal prison.
According to court documents and information provided in public hearing, the three ships loaded with cocaine left the coast of Tumaco (Colombia) bound for Mexico.
Ecuadorian National Sentenced to More Than 16 Years for Trafficking Cocaine on the High Seas: Jose Luis Pinargote-Baquerizo of Ecuador has been sentenced to years in prison for conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine. https://t.co/0RKpBmiLnG— FBI Tampa (@FBITampa) December 6, 2021
For these operations, Pinargote-Baquerizo hired six Ecuadorian sailors who were paid in US dollars.
The now condemned man personally guided these sailors from Ecuador to Colombia and on one occasion accompanied them directly to Tumaco.
On August 8 of 2019, in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, Pinargote-Baquerizo was arrested on board a ship loaded with 1,37 kilograms of cocaine by the Colombian Navy.
After his capture, he was sent to a Colombian prison awaiting his extradition to the United States, but the 37 August 2019 was inadvertently released.
Subsequently, the Colombian Navy intercepted it on February 6, 2022 in the Eastern Pacific Ocean aboard a self-propelled semi-submersible vessel, this time with 3,1200 kilograms of cocaine on board.
Pinargote-Baquerizo was sent back to jail in Colombia and extradited to the United States on March 2, . This case was investigated by the United States Coast Guard and the Panama Express Strike Force, a permanent Strike Force of the Organized Crime and Drug Control Task Force.
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