MSC GAYANE

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Drug smuggler charged with more than seven years in prison

Aleksandar Kavaja, 28, of Montenegro, the final crewman charged in connection with a 2019 attempt to smuggle $1 billion worth of cocaine through the Port of Philadelphia from the 'MSC Gayane' was sentenced to more than seven years in prison on Aug 31, 2021, after telling a federal judge he had no choice but to participate or risk death at the hands of a murderous cartel. The electrician said that five days before he set sail on the 'MSC Gayane', a man cornered him at a café in Montenegro. The stranger did not give his name but told Kavaja he knew who he was and where his family lived. He handed the electrician a cellphone and instructed him that once at sea, he should use it to coordinate with cocaine suppliers in South America, who would meet the ship on its journey.

Drug smugglers sentenced to years in jail

Acting United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams announced on Aug 2, 2021, that Ivan Durasevic, 31, and Nenad Ilic, 41, both of Montenegro, were sentenced by United States District Court Judge Harvey Bartle III, on charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine on the 'MSC Gayane' subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. Durasevic was sentenced to 6,5 years in prison and two years of supervised release. Ilic was sentenced to seven years in prison followed by two years of supervised release. Durasevic and Ilic worked on board the 'MSC Gayane'; Durasevic was the second officer and Ilic was the engineer cadet. For months in early 2019, Durasevic, and Ilic conspired with others to engage in a bulk cocaine smuggling scheme. On multiple occasions during the vessel’s voyage and while at sea, crew members including the defendants helped load bulk packages of cocaine onto the vessel from speedboats that approached the vessel in the middle of the night under cover of darkness. Crew members used the vessel’s crane to hoist cargo nets full of cocaine onto the vessel and then stashed the cocaine in the vessel’s shipping containers; they bent railings on the ship and pulled back doors on the shipping containers so they could fit the huge quantities of cocaine into the containers. After hiding the drugs among legitimate cargo, crew members used fake seals to reseal the shipping containers in which they had stashed the cocaine in order to disguise their clandestine activities and contraband. Durasevic and Ilic operated mobile “narco” phones to coordinate the bulk cocaine smuggling with others on land and recruited other crew members while at sea to assist in the scheme. On June 17, 2019, federal, state, and local law enforcement agents boarded the 'MSC Gayane' when it arrived at the Packer Marine Terminal in Philadelphia and seized about 20 tons of cocaine worth over $1 billion U.S. dollars from its shipping containers in one of the largest drug seizures in U.S. history. Five other crew members from the 'MSC Gayane' involved in this smuggling scheme were arrested, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, and have previously been sentenced based on their participation in the scheme. These crew members include Bosko Markovic, 39, of Montenegro, the ship’s chief officer; Vladimir Penda, 27, of Montenegro, the fourth engineer; Stefan Bojevic, 29, of Serbia, the assistant reeferman; Fonofaavae Tiasaga, 29, of Samoa, an able seaman; and Laauli Pulu, 34, of Samoa, an ordinary seaman. A sixth crew member, Aleksandar Kavaja, 27, of Montenegro, the electrician, pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing. The case is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the United States Customs and Border Protection, together with a multi-agency team of federal, state, and local partners.

Chief mate sentenced to seven years in prison for drug smuggling

The chief mate of the 'MSC Gayane', aboard which federal authorities at the Port of Philadelphia seized a record-breaking 20 tons of cocaine in 2019, expected to be paid more than $1 million for overseeing the smuggling effort, federal prosecutors said. That disclosurecame on June 10, 2021, as a federal judge sentenced Bosko Markovic to seven years in prison instead. Markovic, 39, of Montenegro, was the most senior crewman aboard the 'MSC Gayane' arrested by federal authorities after an investigation that has spanned from the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal to the Balkans, the South American coast, and mainland Europe. He pleaded guilty to drug-trafficking conspiracy charges. And while some of the seven other charged crewmen, many of whom Markovic recruited into the conspiracy while the Gayane was at sea, have since disclosed how much money they expected to be paid by the Balkan drug traffickers financing the illicit shipment, all of the amounts cited in court filings — roughly $50,000 to $60,000 per participant — have been significantly less than the payday Markovic had been offered. What Markovic hoped to receive was nothing compared with the estimated $1 billion that the traffickers behind the effort could have made had their cocaine reached its intended destination: the streets of Europe. Addressing U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III in court, Markovic and his attorney, Benjamin Brait Cooper, laid out a tale similar to those shared by the other members of the Gayane’s crew who have been sentenced so far to prison terms ranging from two to six years. Up until earlier this year, the cases against many of the crewmen remained under court seal. And one of the men — Vladimir Penda, 28, who is serving a six-year sentence for his involvement — maintained at his sentencing in April that he only agreed to participate for fear of what the Balkan gangs that recruited him might do to him or his family if he refused. Markovic made no mention, either, of the organization that hired him when it came time for him to address the judge. Instead, he said he regretted his involvement and dreamed of returning to Montenegro once his prison term was complete.