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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Colombian Is First Sentenced Under Narco-Terrorism Law

WASHINGTON - A high-level drug trafficker and supporter of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) was sentenced to serve 194 months in prison.

Federal prosecutors in Washington note that Jose Maria Corredor-Ibague, aka "Boyaco," marks the first person in the nation to be indicted under the federal narco-terrorism statute, which became law in March 2006.

U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler had sentenced Corredor-Ibague, 46, on Sept. 9, but the sentence was not unsealed until Monday.

In addition to his prison term, the Colombian National faces three years of supervised release.

Corredor-Ibague had been extradited to the United States in 2008, two years after his arrest in Colombia. Here, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine while knowing and intending that the cocaine would be imported into the United States, one count of narco-terrorism, and one count of conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization.

Prosecutors describe Corredor-Ibague as "the leader of an extensive drug manufacturing and transportation network that processed and manufactured cocaine in Colombian laboratories and used airplanes to fly multi-hundred kilogram loads of cocaine from clandestine airstrips in Colombia to various countries, including Brazil, Guyana, Mexico, Paraguay, Suriname and Venezuela."

The cocaine goes on from there to the United States and Europe.

"Corredor-Ibague controlled the clandestine airstrips used by his organization and also owned and operated the laboratories used to manufacture and package the cocaine," prosecutors said in a statement. "Corredor-Ibague and his associates also transported cocaine owned by other drug trafficking organizations, including cocaine belonging to the FARC."

The FARC is said to have protected and profited from Corredor-Ibague's ring.

"Corredor-Ibague paid taxes to the FARC using U.S. currency and weapons," prosecutors said. "Additionally, Corredor-Ibague provided material support, assistance and resources to the FARC, including assault-type weapons, machine guns, ammunition, uniforms and sophisticated communications equipment. Corredor-Ibague conducted these activities with knowledge that the FARC engaged in terrorist activity and terrorism in Colombia and elsewhere."

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