Five Plead Guilty to $1Mln Cocaine Smuggling Plot – US Justice Department

Five people have pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and money laundering charges in a plot to smuggle 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of cocaine worth $900,000 in New York City street sales into the United States, the Department of Justice said in a press release.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – A kilogram (2.2 pounds) of cocaine in Colombia can be purchased for around $1,800 but it sells on the streets of New York City for around $30,000, the Narcotic News web site said.

"Lawrence Fonseca and Terrence Edwards pled guilty to the conspiracy to import 30 kilograms of cocaine into the United States on Monday… while Justin Jeremiah Gumbs pled guilty to the same count on July 7," the release stated on Thursday.

Co-defendants Peter Lev and Sharon Rodríguez-Rosario plead guilty to money laundering to promote a drug trafficking crime and face maximum sentences of 20 years each for their money-laundering activities, the release added.

"The charges were based on their involvement in a conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States through contacts and connections in the British Virgin Islands, the Dominican Republic and St. Thomas," the Justice Department explained.