Crew mate aboard 20-ton cocaine cargo ship admits role in record $1 billion Philly port drug bust

Crew mate aboard 20-ton cocaine cargo ship admits role in record $1 billion Philly port drug bust
Jeremy Roebuck September 10, 2020 https://www.inquirer.com/news/msc-gayane-cocaine-20-ton-philly-aleksanda...

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Director of Field Operations Casey Durst holds a kilo of cocaine in front of partial display of the 20-ton, $1 billion cocaine haul seized in June 2019 at the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal in South Philadelphia. DAVID SWANSON / Staff Photographer
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Director of Field Operations Casey Durst holds a kilo of cocaine in front of partial display of the 20-ton, $1 billion cocaine haul seized in June 2019 at the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal in South Philadelphia.
A ship’s electrician from Montenegro became the third member of an international cargo vessel’s crew to admit playing a role in the smuggling of a record-breaking 20-ton cocaine haul seized by federal authorities at the Port of Philadelphia last year.

Aleksandar Kavaja, 27, pleaded guilty to narcotics conspiracy charges Thursday and told a federal judge he and three other crew mates aboard the MSC Gayane were recruited by drug smugglers in their native country before the ship set out on its journey.

His guilty plea is the latest sign of progress in an international investigation into one of the largest cocaine busts in U.S. history. Since the June 17, 2019, discovery, the probe has spanned from the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal in South Philadelphia to southern Europe and South and Central America.

But after announcing the record haul at a splashy news conference where law enforcement officials posed for photos next to stacks of cocaine worth an estimated $1 billion, the investigation has largely proceeded out of public view..

At least seven of the Gayane’s crew of roughly 20 were arrested at the time, though most of the court filings in their cases remain under court seal. And families of the men, from Montenegro and Samoa, have reported difficulty finding out what has happened to their loved ones since they were booked into the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia over a year ago.