United States Drug Enforcement Administration

Tampa, Fla. – U.S. District Judge William F. Jung has sentenced Vicente Lopez Mero (67, Ecuador) to 19 years and 6 months in federal prison for conspiring to possess with intent to distribute cocaine on a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. Lopez Mero pleaded guilty on March 26, 2025.  

According to court documents, on October 27, 2024, Lopez Mero and four co-conspirators smuggled cocaine in the Eastern Pacific Ocean aboard a self-propelled semi-submersible vessel, which is a closed hull boat specifically configured for transporting large quantities of narcotics in its interior cargo hold. Guardsmen from the USCGS Munro, a United States Coast Guard Legend-class cutter, interdicted the semi-submersible vessel 960 nautical miles north of French Polynesia, in international waters. The Coast Guard seized 3,749 kilograms of cocaine with an approximate wholesale value of $82 million. Lopez Mero previously had been convicted of and sentenced in 2020 for smuggling large quantities of cocaine within the ballast tanks of an international container ship.

This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Strike Force 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 to disrupt and dismantle the most significant drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transitional criminal organizations. 

The specific mission of the OCDETF Panama Express Strike Force is to disrupt and dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations involved in large-scale drug trafficking, money laundering, and related activities. The OCDETF Panama Express Strike Force is comprised of agents and officers from the Coast Guard Investigative Service, Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Homeland Security Investigations. The prosecution is being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.