Ecuadorian Drug Smuggler Caught On The High Seas With 1,092 Kilograms Of Cocaine Sentenced To 108 Months In Prison

United States District Court Judge Terry F. Moorer sentenced Tanyl Damian Anchundia-Rezebala, an Ecuadorian national, to 108 months' imprisonment for smuggling 1,092 kilograms of cocaine in the Pacific Ocean following his prior guilty plea on the charges.

Court documents show that on September 24, 2024, while on routine patrol in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter from the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter MUNRO located a drug smuggling vessel operating in international waters, approximately 160 nautical miles south of Manzanillo, Mexico. The vessel displayed no indicia of nationality, was operating northbound at a high rate of speed in a known drug trafficking area and had visible suspect packages on deck. The USCG helicopter fired warning shots which were ineffective in stopping the vessel. The helicopter then used disabling fire and shot out the engines to stop the smuggling boat. The MUNRO helicopter then observed, and recorded a video, of the drugs smugglers jettisoning packages in the ocean while the boat was disabled.

USCG personnel boarded the vessel from a Zodiac-style boat launched from the Cutter. USCG personnel recovered 24 bales from the water surrounding the vessel, which yielded an at-sea weight of approximately 1,092 kilograms of cocaine.

Anchundia-Rezebala and four other smugglers were taken into custody from the vessel and transferred to USCG Cutter MUNRO with the cocaine and brought to the United States for prosecution under the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act. The vessel was deemed a danger to navigation due to no suitable tow points and its distance from land and was sunk upon completion of law enforcement activities.

U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The case was investigated by the United States Coast Guard and the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations.

Assistant United States Attorney George F. May prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

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. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).