FISHING BOAT OWNER PLEADS GUILTY IN DRUG SMUGGLING CASE

TAMPA - The owner of three fishing boats that were seized after
authorities found them smuggling cocaine from Colombia pleaded guilty
this morning to a federal drug offense.

Adelmo Perlaza-Montano, 50, faces 10 years to life in prison on a
charge of conspiring to possess cocaine with intent to distribute.

Perlaza-Montano, who was extradited recently from Colombia, agreed to
cooperate in Operation Panama Express, a wide-ranging, Tampa-based
investigation of maritime drug smuggling in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

The defendant belonged to a drug trafficking organization headed by
Daniel Segura-Rodriguez, who also has been arrested in Colombia and is
awaiting extradition, investigators say.

For at least six years, Perlaza-Montano owned or was administrator for
fishing vessels used to transport multi-ton shipments of cocaine to
Mexico, according to his plea agreement. The drugs were destined for
the United States.