Goran Gogic, a former heavyweight boxer, allegedly used commercial container ships to transport over $1 billion worth of cocaine from Colombia to Europe via the United States.
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A former heavyweight boxer from Montenegro was charged by the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday with trafficking in 22 tons of cocaine worth over $1 billion, most of which was part of one of the largest cocaine seizures in American history.
Goran Gogic, 43, was arrested on Sunday night while trying to board a flight to Zurich from Miami International Airport, after being indicted by a grand jury in New York.
Prosecutors charged Gogic with three counts of violating the federal Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act, and one count of conspiracy. Each count carries a mandatory minimum 10-year prison term and possible life sentence.
“The arrest and indictment of Gogic, a former boxer allegedly responsible for trafficking a staggering amount of cocaine, more than 20 tons, which he attempted to move through U.S. ports, is a resounding victory for law enforcement,†stated United States Attorney Peace.
“The meticulous planning by the defendant and his co-conspirators failed to take into account the federal agents whose hard work resulted in this body blow to the organization and individuals responsible for distributing massive quantities of cocaine.â€
“Gogic, as alleged, is a major drug trafficker who, along with his criminal associates, is responsible for overseeing long-range narcotics transportation on container ships as well as the wholesale distribution of cocaine throughout Europe.
As alleged in the indictment and court documents, between May 2018 and July 2019, Gogic conspired with others to distribute massive quantities of cocaine via commercial cargo ships.
Gogic coordinated with the sources of the cocaine in Colombia, the crewmembers who transported tons of cocaine on commercial cargo ships on the high seas, and the network of port workers who transported and offloaded the cocaine in Europe via the United States.
Members of the conspiracy loaded the commercial cargo ships at night near the coast and ports, working with crewmembers who would hoist loads of cocaine from speedboats that approached the ships at multiple points along their route.
To physically load the cocaine aboard, they used the ship’s cranes as well as nets. Once the cocaine was onboard, the crewmembers would hide it within specific shipping containers that they knew had sufficient room to conceal the large quantities of cocaine and for which they had duplicate counterfeit seals.
They selected the specific containers to be used to conceal the cocaine based, in part, on the containers’ location and orientation, and route and destination on board the vessel.
This complex operation relied on having to access to each ship’s crew, route, manifest, real-time positioning and geolocation data and a knowledge of what legitimate cargo is contained in each container.
The conspiracy used a different set of workers with access to the ports in Europe to clandestinely access and remove the cocaine from the shipping containers upon their arrival.
U.S. law enforcement officers seized three of these shipments:
• The February 27, 2019 seizure of approximately 1,437 kilograms of cocaine secreted aboard the MSC Carlotta at the Port of New York and New Jersey;
• The March 18, 2019 seizure of approximately 537 kilograms of cocaine secreted aboard the MSC Desiree at the Port of Philadelphia; and
• The June 19, 2019 seizure of approximately 17,956 kilograms of cocaine secreted aboard the MSC Gayane at the Port of Philadelphia. The seizure of the cocaine from the MSC Gayane—worth over $1 billion—was one of the largest seizures of cocaine in United States history.
Law enforcement officers also seized significant amounts of cocaine related to the scheme at ports in Panama, Peru, and the Netherlands, among other countries. ■