Leader of Colombian Drug Trafficking Organization Sentenced to More Than 17 Years in Prison for Conspiring to Traffic Cocaine into the United States

Tampa, FL - Rosbin Leonardo Duarte-Elvir (43, Honduras) has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge William F. Jung to 17 years and 6 months in federal prison and a $5 million forfeiture for conspiring to import cocaine into the United States. Duarte-Elvir pleaded guilty on December 11, 2025. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.

According to the plea agreement and other court documents, beginning on an unknown date and continuing through 2024, Duarte-Elvir routinely owned and invested in cocaine shipments that were bound for the United States. With the help of a security supervisor and other corrupt airport employees, conspirators loaded commercial aircraft with cocaine disguised in boxes of fruit at Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport in Cali, Colombia and intended for Gustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport in San Andrés Island, Colombia. With the assistance of no fewer than 20 corrupt Colombian police officers, the conspirators exported the cocaine out of the San Andrés Island airport, then smuggled the narcotics by boat to either Nicaragua or Honduras, then to Mexico and the United States via land routes.

Historically, Duarte-Elvir and his co-conspirators owned and successfully trafficked thousands of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia to the United States. Their last drug trafficking endeavor was in May 2024. After the conspirators' drug trafficking route was temporarily disrupted due to a seizure at the San Andrés Island airport in 2023, Duarte-Elvir and other leaders in his transnational criminal organization (TCO) decided it was time to re-open their illicit air route. On May 7, 2024, Duarte-Elvir's couriers tried importing 540 kilograms of cocaine into the Cali airport, but Colombian law enforcement officers seized the load of cocaine. Had the importation been successful, this load of cocaine would eventually be bound for the United States.

(Photo of drug seizure)

Throughout his years owning and trafficking cocaine in Colombia, Duarte-Elvir and his TCO earned substantial profits. Duarte-Elvir used the proceeds of drug trafficking to furnish a lavish lifestyle, to include a large estate outside of Cali, Colombia.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service. Valuable assistance was provided by the Colombian National Police's Dirreccion de Antinarcotics (DIRAN) and the Colombian Equipo de Trabajo Investigativo Control Aeronaves (ETICA). The Department of Justice's Office of International Affairs and Judicial Attaché Office in Bogotá worked with Colombian authorities to secure the arrest and March 2025 extradition from Colombia of Duarte-Elvir. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David J. Pardo. Assistant United States Attorney Suzanne C. Nebesky is handling the forfeiture.

This case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Region 20 (Tampa) comprises agents and officers from multiple law enforcement agencies with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.