OPERATION KOMODO DRAGON
RESULTS IN 4,000 KILOGRAM COCAINE SEIZURE

Marcos Daniel Jiménez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Thomas W. Raffanello, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration; Rear Admiral Harvey Johnson, Commander, Seventh Coast Guard District, United States Coast Guard; and Jonathan Sall, Special Agent in Charge, United States Coast Guard Investigative Service, announced today that a federal grand jury sitting in Miami, Florida, returned two separate indictments charging ten defendants in Operation Komodo Dragon.

In the first indictment, U.S. v. Nahun Bolanos Pena, et al., Nahun Bolanos Pena, Jose Leonel Garcia Rios, Alfredo Bonilla Montano, Jesus Noel Valencia, and Jarlin Caicedo Congo, are charged with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine aboard a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and possession with the intent to distribute cocaine aboard a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, in violation of Title 46, United States Code, Appendix Sections 1903(a), 1903(j), 1903(g); Title 21, United States Code, Section 960(b)(1)(B); and Title 18, United States Code, Section 2. If convicted, the defendants face a maximum statutory penalty of life imprisonment, and a fine of 4 million dollars.

In the second indictment, U.S. v. Geraldo Valencia, et al., Geraldo Valencia, Leonardo Granados, Marcial Cuero, Juan Carlos Arango, and Gilberto Jimenez Ariaz, are charged with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine aboard a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and possession with the intent to distribute cocaine aboard a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, in violation of Title 46, United States Code, Appendix Sections 1903(a), 1903(j), 1903(g); Title 21, United States Code, Section 960(b)(1)(B); and Title 18, United States Code, Section 2. If convicted, the defendants face a maximum statutory penalty of life imprisonment, and a fine of 4 million dollars.

In the two indictments returned today, ten individuals were arrested aboard two stateless “go-fast” boats during separate seizures in the Eastern Pacific totaling nearly 10,000 pounds of cocaine (approximately 4,344 kilograms). Working with the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force, the goal of this combined federal operation was to combat the illegal flow of narcotics out of South America into the United States and abroad. This effort employed the full range of federal law enforcement capabilities and the federal narcotics laws to prosecute this large-scale Colombian cocaine operation.

Mr. Jiménez commended the investigative efforts of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the United States Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security, and the United States Navy. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John Robert Blakey.