Suspected Ecuadorian drug trafficker extradited to San Diego for conspiracy to distribute cocaine following ICE HSI, joint law enforcement partner probe

SAN DIEGO — Pedro Cornelio Pilligua Iduarte, the owner of multiple Ecuadorian flagged vessels which allegedly provided logistical support to drug laden vessels, was extradited to the United States from Spain, following a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), joint law enforcement partner probe.

On March 19, 2021, a federal grand jury sitting in the Southern District of California returned an indictment charging Pilligua Iduarte, and others, with participating in a long-running conspiracy to traffic substantial quantities of cocaine from South America to the United States.

An Ecuadorian national, Pilligua Iduarte was apprehended by Spanish authorities in April 2021 while visiting Madrid. He arrived in San Diego on Feb. 11, 2021, and made his initial appearance today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Bernard G. Skomal. He is scheduled for a detention hearing before Judge Skomal on Feb. 17, 2022, at 1:30 p.m.

This case is part of Operation Pangeros Locos, a multi-year investigation led by Homeland Security Investigations, along with the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Customs and Border Protection, and United States Coast Guard Investigative Service and has had a significant impact on drug distribution from source countries in South America.

According to court documents, several Ecuadorian fishing vessels, based in Manta, Ecuador, have operated with impunity while providing material support to drug laden vessels to allow them to transport tons of cocaine over thousands of nautical miles of open ocean from Ecuador and Colombia to Mexico, for eventual distribution to the United States. These fishing vessels provide fuel, replacement parts, communication devices, or anything else needed to help the drug laden vessels complete their thousand-mile journey trafficking metric tons of cocaine from Colombia to Mexico. Without the support provided by the fishing vessel captains and owners, these drug laden vessels, typically pangas or low-profile vessels, would not be able to complete this long journey. This investigation has resulted in the seizure of more than 50,000 kilograms of cocaine, the indictment of 27 fishing vessel captains and owners, and the prosecution of 65 cocaine boat crewmembers.

“The Department of Justice appreciates the cooperation of the Spanish authorities in this matter. With the assistance of our law enforcement colleagues at home and around the world, we will aggressively pursue every avenue available in bringing drug traffickers to justice,” said U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman. Grossman thanked the prosecution team and San Diego Strike Force agents, led by Homeland Security Investigations as well as representatives from DEA, FBI, U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS), and Customs and Border Protection for their excellent work on this case.

“This indictment is a testament to the success of our collaborative efforts to disrupt transnational criminal organizations and prevent illicit drugs from making their way to America,” said Rear Adm. Brian Penoyer, the Eleventh Coast Guard District commander. “It is a privilege to work alongside the dedicated women and men of the Department of Justice and the Southern District of California who play such a crucial role in the successful team effort stopping these organizations. The hard work of our Coast Guard ships and crews in the Eastern Pacific Ocean culminates in indictments like this that dismantle smuggling organizations, put smugglers behind bars, and keep drugs off our streets.”

This prosecution was brought as a part of the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Co-located Strike Forces Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location. This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations against a continuum of priority targets and their affiliate illicit financial networks. These prosecutor-led co-located Strike Forces capitalize on the synergy created through the long-term relationships that can be forged by agents, analysts, and prosecutors who remain together over time, and they epitomize the model that has proven most effective in combating organized crime. The specific mission of the San Diego Strike Force is to target the most significant drug trafficking organizations in Mexico, Central and South America.

OCDETF was established in 1982 to conduct comprehensive, multilevel attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and is the keystone of the Department of Justice’s drug reduction strategy. Today, OCDETF combines the resources and expertise of its member federal agencies in cooperation with state and local law enforcement. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking organizations, transnational criminal organizations, and money laundering organizations that present a significant threat to the public safety, economic, or national security of the United States.

The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs worked with law enforcement partners in Spain to secure the arrest of Pilligua Iduarte and his extradition to the United States.

The United States is represented in court by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joshua Mellor and Nicole Bredariol.

The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

HSI is a directorate of ICE and the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel, and finance move. HSI’s workforce of over 10,400 employees consists of more than 7,100 special agents assigned to 220 cities throughout the United States, and 80 overseas locations in 53 countries. HSI’s international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.