Leader of International Cocaine Smuggling Organization Extradited from Colombia

TAMPA, FL—United States Attorney A. Brian Albritton announced today the arrest and extradition of Carlos Asprilla-Jaen (age 40, a Colombian national) to face federal drug charges in the United States. Asprilla-Jaen will be prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida. Asprilla-Jaen made his initial court appearance this afternoon in United States District Court in Tampa where the court ordered him detained.

According to court documents, Asprilla-Jaen organized and provided logistical support to vessels smuggling multi-ton loads of cocaine in the Pacific Ocean from 2005 until the end of 2007. From the coasts of Colombia and Ecuador, his organization built and launched go-fast vessels, each vessel carrying, approximately $30 million worth of cocaine eventually destined for the United States. He also managed and operated a fleet of Peruvian—flagged fishing vessels and used them to provide fuel and provisions to the go-fast vessels.

Colombian authorities arrested Asprilla-Jaen on April 23, 2008, in Cali, Colombia. Three co-defendants were extradited from Peru on December 11, 2008, pled guilty on February 4, 2009, and are scheduled to be sentenced on May 28, 2009. A fifth codefendantis in custody in Colombia, pending extradition.

This investigation is being conducted by the Panama Express Strike Force, which includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Southern Command's Joint Interagency Task Force South, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, and the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Christopher F. Murray.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of a federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.