Builder Of Smuggling Vessels That Attempted To Send 9,500 Kilograms Of Cocaine To Mexico And Central America Sentenced To 20 Years In Federal Prison

Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Virginia M. Hernandez Covington has sentenced Juan Carlos Castro Vasquez (50, Colombia), a/k/a “Juanca,” to 20 years in federal prison for conspiring to traffic cocaine on vessels subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. Castro Vasquez was arrested in Colombia in October 2022 pursuant to a provisional arrest warrant requested by the United States and extradited to the United States in April 2024.. Castro Vasquez pleaded guilty on December 11, 2024.

According to court documents, Castro Vasquez was a member of a transnational criminal transportation organization that dispatched cocaine-laden go-fast, low-profile, and self-propelled semi-submersible vessels from Colombia into the eastern Pacific Ocean bound for Central America and Mexico. Castro Vasquez built the vessels. Investigators attributed five maritime smuggling ventures to Castro Vasquez, all of which were interdicted by the United States Coast Guard and prosecuted in the United States. In total, the vessels he built for those ventures carried more than 9,500 kilograms of cocaine.

This prosecution is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels, and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. This effort was developed as part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Strike Force Initiative.  OCDETF utilizes a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven approach that leverages the strengths of multiple law enforcement agencies to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States.

The specific mission of the OCDETF Panama Express Strike Force is to disrupt and dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations involved in large scale drug trafficking, money laundering, and related activities. The OCDETF Panama Express Strike Force is comprised of agents and officers from the Coast Guard Investigative Service, Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Homeland Security Investigations. The Colombian National Police provided critical investigative support. The Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs and the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section’s Office of Judicial Attaché in Bogotá, Colombia provided significant assistance in securing the arrest and extradition of the defendant. The prosecution is being led by the Office of the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lauren Stoia.