Thursday in Brooklyn court was convicted 50-year-old man, who has imported into the United States 16 kg of cocaine from the Dominican Republic, hiding it in a batch of chili.
In the period from August 2016 to March 2018 Humberto Baez, the importer of the goods from Pennsylvania, has developed a scheme to import cocaine into the United States. He couldn’t do it alone, so also was networking and looking for people that would help with smuggling from the Dominican Republic. The Baez unlucky because one of those he offered to “work”, collaborated with the Office of the drug enforcement administration (DEA).
When everything was ready, Baez and his associates organized two «trial» products without supply of drugs in Red Hook Port in Brooklyn, to show the appearance of a legitimate business relationship between the exporter and the importer and not to attract attention during subsequent shipment of cocaine.
At the end of February 2018 in Miami, Florida, arrived on the third party, where in cardboard boxes with chili was hidden approximately 16 kilograms of cocaine. Baez was informed by one of his employees, who was a police informant, that the third parties are «ripe tomatoes» which was a code expression to refer to the cocaine and instructed him to deliver the drugs by truck to the warehouse of Baez in Pennsylvania. March 1, 2018, law enforcement officers raided a shipping container and withdrew the hidden cocaine.
On Thursday, after a two-week trial a jury in Brooklyn found the Humberto Baeza guilty of conspiracy to import and distribute cocaine. At sentencing, a district court judge Jack B. Weinstein, the defendant faces at least 10 years of imprisonment.
Management agents for combating drugs said that this is not the first case when trying to import drugs into the country using unusual methods.
«Drug dealers go all out to deliver the poison to our country, said special agent DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) Donovan — the Department for combating drugs was seen as the smugglers hid the drugs in bananas, floor tiles, exotic statues, and even in animals.»
Cocaine trafficker convicted in Brooklyn Federal Court @EDNYnews — cocaine concealed in boxes containing chili peppers.https://t.co/rg6uYFVdv5 pic.twitter.com/3G3gMKgrP9
— DEANewYork (@DEANEWYORKDiv) February 14, 2019
«The scheme of the defendant to conceal 16 kilograms of cocaine in a batch of chili wasn’t such a hot idea, and today’s sentence, he was brought to justice for their crimes, said attorney Richard Donohue. «I am grateful to prosecutors and agents of the anti-drug for their excellent work to prevent the proliferation of illegal drugs in our country.»
