Crew Member Of Ship In Massive Philly Cocaine Bust Sentenced

Philadelphia PA

13 April, 2021

12:07 PM

Description

PHILADELPHIA — A crew member of a shipping vessel at the center of a massive cocaine bust in Philadelphia was sentenced to prison recently, federal authorities said. Acting United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams said Vladimir Penda, 27, of Montenegro, was sentenced to five years and ten months in prison, and two years of supervised release on charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine on a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. For the first half of 2019 until mid-June of that year, Penda, a crew member who worked on board the shipping vessel MSC Gayane as the ship's fourth engineer, conspired with others to engage in a bulk cocaine smuggling scheme. The vessel was part of a 2019 bust that ended with Customs and Border Protection seizing 17.5 tons, or about 35,000 pounds, from the ship in 15,000 kilogram bricks. According to CBP, it was the largest cocaine seizure in the agency's 230-year history. Pena pleaded guilty in June 2020. On multiple occasions during the MSC Gayane's voyage and while at sea, crew members including Penda helped load bulk packages of cocaine onto the vessel from speedboats that approached the vessel in the middle of the night under cover of darkness. Crew members used the vessel's crane to hoist cargo nets full of cocaine onto the vessel and then stashed the cocaine in the vessel's shipping containers. Crew members bent railings on the ship and pulled back doors on the shipping containers so they could fit the huge quantities of cocaine into the containers. After hiding the drugs among legitimate cargo, crew members used fake seals to reseal the shipping containers in which they had stashed the cocaine in order to disguise their clandestine activities and contraband. On June 17, 2019, federal, state, and local law enforcement agents boarded the MSC Gayane when it arrived at Packer Marine Terminal in Philadelphia and seized about 20 tons of cocaine worth over $1 billion U.S. dollars from its shipping containers in one of the largest drug seizures in U.S. history. Seven other crew members from the MSC Gayane involved in this smuggling scheme were arrested and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine based on their participation in the scheme. These crew members include Bosko Markovic, 39, of Montenegro, the ship's chief officer; Ivan Durasevic, 31, of Montenegro, the second officer; Nenad Ilic, 41, of Montenegro, the engineer cadet; Aleksandar Kavaja, 27, of Montenegro, the electrician; Stefan Bojevic, 29, of Serbia, the assistant reeferman; Fonofaavae Tiasaga, 29, of Samoa, an able seaman; and Laauli Pulu, 34, of Samoa, an ordinary seaman. The case is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the United States Customs and Border Protection, together with a multi-agency team of federal, state, and local partners.