Crew member gets over 5 years in $1B cocaine bust at Philly port
By FOX 29 staff
Officials say the cocaine pictured is just a quarter of the drugs seized.
PHILADELPHIA - A cargo ship crew member has been sentenced to five years and 10 months in federal prison in connection with nearly 40,000 pounds, or almost 18,000 kilograms, of cocaine seized when the vessel arrived in Philadelphia almost two years ago.
Prosecutors say Vladimir Penda, 27, of Montenegro, 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.
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, according to investigators.