In a significant blow to an international cocaine trafficking ring, Agim Cerma, known as "Jimmy," an Albanian national residing in Colombia, has been sentenced to a hefty 20 years in federal prison for his involvement in a conspiracy to shuttle large quantities of the drug to various countries using U.S.-registered planes for lower risk of detection, the U.S. Attorney's Office confirmed.
Cerma, 54, got tagged with a two-decades-long stint behind bars by U.S. District Court Judge R. Stan Baker, who also mandated a three-year post-release supervision and eventual deportation for Cerma, "International trafficking in illegal drugs represents a direct threat to the safety of the citizens of the United States, and this investigation and prosecution dismantles an operation planning to fly hundreds of kilos of cocaine out of Colombia," U.S. Attorney Jill E. Steinberg detailed in a statement.
The prosecution's case paints a picture of a sophisticated network that foisted 300 kilograms of cocaine from a lab in Colombia for trans-Atlantic trips destined for Europe, employing corruption at various levels, including airport personnel, to facilitate the movement of narcotics, in hopes that the American registration of the aircraft would skirt closer inspection that would typically befall planes under a Colombian flag.
The yearlong investigation culminated with the seizure of 330 kilograms of the white powder at Bonilla Aragon International Airport in Cali, poised to leave Colombian soil for the apparently insatiable markets of Europe, unraveling a plot with Cerma at the helm and indicting four Colombian nationals, three of whom pled guilty to charges in the U.S. District Court; Jairo Fernando Cardona Lopez is looking at 175 months while Edwin Durlandy Montilla Gonzalez and Pedro Antonio Penagos Londono have received sentences of 150 and 48 months, respectively, whereas William Cruz Perez still waits for his date in court.
The case came under the umbrella of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and saw collaboration between multiple agencies, including the DEA, U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Customs, and Border Protection, the Justice Department, international offices in Bogota, and more, exhibiting an archetype of inter-agency collaboration that put a crimp in the armor of drug lords who threaten the everyday peace of America's streets.
