Man sentenced to 16 years for $75M cocaine smuggling on submersible

TAMPA, Fla. — A previously convicted cocaine trafficker has been sentenced to 16 years in federal prison for his role in trafficking over $75 million worth of cocaine aboard a semi-submersible vessel, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida has announced.

Henry Aguirre-Valois, 36, of Columbia, received the sentence from U.S. District Judge Mary S. Scriven following his guilty plea on May 24, 2024.

According to court records, on November 20, 2023, Mr Aguirre-Valois and three co-defendants were intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard approximately 170 nautical miles west of Ecuador. The defendants were aboard a self-propelled semi-submersible vessel specifically designed for transporting large quantities of narcotics.

Coast Guard personnel seized approximately 2,523 kilograms of cocaine from the vessel, with an estimated wholesale value of $75 million.

This sentencing marks Mr Aguirre-Valois’s second conviction for cocaine trafficking on a vessel under U.S. jurisdiction, following a prior conviction in 2019.

The case was part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Panama Express Strike Force Initiative, a collaborative effort to disrupt transnational criminal organizations involved in large-scale drug trafficking. Agencies involved included the Coast Guard Investigative Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Homeland Security Investigations.

Assistant United States Attorney David Pardo prosecuted the case.