TAMPA, Fla. — An Ecuadorian national faces two terms of life in prison following a Panama Express Strike Force, commonly called PANEX, investigation that led to a guilty plea for smuggling cocaine on the high seas by a so-called go-fast vessel.
Juan Nicolas Pachay Lopez, 40, of Manta, Ecuador, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of a substance or mixture containing a detectable amount of cocaine and possession with the intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of a substance or mixture containing a detectable amount of cocaine. Pachay Lopez faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 10 years and up to life in federal prison for each count. A sentencing date has not been set.
According to court documents, on or about Feb. 24, U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Munro was on routine patrol in international waters approximately 580 nautical miles southwest of Acapulco, Mexico. A Coast Guard drone encountered an unnamed four-engine go-fast vessel and began to investigate suspected illicit maritime activity. The drone observed three individuals on board the vessel, which was approximately 40 feet in length with a blue and green hull, with packages and fuel drums on its deck. Munro’s helicopter arrived on scene and fired several warning shots after the vessel ignored Spanish language commands to stop broadcasted via the helicopter’s loudspeaker and on maritime radio channels.
A small vessel dispatched from Munro with a boarding team of Coast Guard law enforcement personnel arrived and gained control of the vessel. Pachay Lopez, a national of Ecuador, was one of the crewmen and was identified as the vessel master. During boarding, the USCG recovered 33 bales containing an at-sea weight of 1,725 kilograms of cocaine.
The PANEX is a standing Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Strike Force comprising agents and analysts from Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the U.S. Southern Command's Joint Interagency Task Force South. The PANEX, which identifies, disrupts and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the U.S. using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach, investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney David W.A. Chee is prosecuting the case.