TAMPA, Fla. - Mark R. Trouville, Special Agent In (SAC), Drug Enforcement (DEA), Miami Field Division, and A. Lee Bentley, III, Acting United States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, announces today that a federal jury found Yugool (61, Guyana) and Desmond (54, Guyana) guilty of two counts of violating the U.S. Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act. Persaud and Wilson were both indicted on September 5, 2013, and face a maximum penalty of life in federal prison. Both defendants are scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 20, 2014.
According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, a United States Coast (USGC) law enforcement detachment team onboard the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship WAVE KNIGHT observed a suspicious fishing vessel, MISS TIFFANY, transiting a known drug trafficking corridor in the Caribbean Sea. When the USGC called over the radio, MISS TIFFANY began evasive maneuvers, while jettisoning white bales overboard. The USCG boarding teams recovered 1,265 kilograms of marijuana from the jettison fields and then boarded MISS TIFFANY. The USCG team detained Persaud and Wilson, and both men were subsequently turned over to special agents from the Panama Express Strike Force.
This investigation was conducted by the DEA, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. SAC Trouville commends the prosecution efforts of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
