Venezuelan National Sentenced To More Than 17 Years In Prison For Trafficking $21 Million Of Cocaine On The High Seas

Tampa, FL – U.S. District Judge William F. Jung has sentenced Hector Caballero (70, Venezuela) to 17 years and 6 months in federal prison for trafficking cocaine on the high seas. A federal jury had found Caballero guilty on May 11, 2023.         

According to testimony presented at trial, Caballero was the captain of a maritime drug trafficking venture that attempted to smuggle 708 kilograms of cocaine from Colombia to Central America for eventual importation into the United States. On November 6, 2022, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) interdicted Caballero’s vessel in the Caribbean Sea about 100 nautical miles north of La Guajira, Colombia. Before being interdicted, the vessel’s crew tried to outrun law enforcement on the high seas, but a USCG helicopter disabled Caballero’s vessel by firing rounds into the vessel’s two outboard engines. 

 The USCG boarding team found Caballero and three others onboard. A search of the vessel revealed 708 kilograms of cocaine, valued at about $21 million, hidden under the fuel barrels and tarp. A photo of the cocaine is below:

Caballero had previously been convicted in Spain for trafficking nearly 2,000 kilograms of cocaine via fishing vessel in April of 2017.

This case was investigated by the United States Coast Guard and the Panama Express Strike Force, a standing Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Strike Force comprised of agents and analysts from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and the U.S. Southern Command’s Joint Interagency Task Force South. 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 www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David Pardo and Special Assistant United States Attorney Benjamin Krebs.