Federal officials reported that a Puerto Rican man was sentenced today to 120 months in prison for conspiring to distribute over 250 kilograms of cocaine.
According to officials, Mariano Enrique Arroyo Perez, aka “Humilde,” 29, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas to a superseding indictment charging him with conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
From 2017 through July 2019, Arroyo Perez and his conspirators conspired to distribute approximately 250 kilograms of cocaine.
The conspirators sought to bring cocaine into the United States using private planes. Specifically, Arroyo Perez coordinated using a private plane to transport approximately 150 kilograms of cocaine from Puerto Rico to New Jersey on November 18, 2018.
Law enforcement officers intercepted that shipment after the pilots became suspicious about four passengers who were not on the flight manifest and had hefty luggage.
The luggage contained cocaine, and the passengers were arrested.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Salas sentenced Arroyo Perez to five years of supervised release.
This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation.
OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.
Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.