The Fourth Sentencing Court of San Salvador sentenced six foreign nationals to 12 years in prison after finding them guilty of illicit trafficking, a crime against public health, according to the ruling issued during the public hearing.
The convicted men were identified as Joel “A”, Eduardo “C”, and Alejandro “T”, all Mexican nationals; Óscar Arturo “P” and Yonson “R”, Colombian nationals; and Miguel Ángel “L”, an Ecuadorian national.
Authorities stated that the defendants were apprehended on May 18, 2024, 880 nautical miles south of the El Cordoncillo inlet in the Jaltepeque estuary, aboard two boats.
The Colombians and the Ecuadorian were traveling on the first boat, transporting the packages of drugs. While the second boat contained the Mexicans, who were carrying the supplies needed to operate the vessel.
Subsequently, on May 27, 2024, the defendants were arrested at the La Concordia Port Authority, located in San Luis La Herradura, La Paz Department, where a field test confirmed that the substance was cocaine.
Technical analysis determined that the total weight of the drug was 1,299 kilograms, with an estimated value on the illicit market of more than 32 million dollars.
