The Department of Justice announced Tuesday that a man previously convicted of narcotics trafficking was found guilty of organising a multi-year plan in which cocaine was brought to the United States from Puerto Rico within custom-built furniture.
Following a one-week trial, a jury convicted Omar Lopez Castro, 48, of Carolina, Puerto Rico, of conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute narcotics, according to a release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Castro, who is due to be sentenced on February 22, faces a minimum of ten years in prison and a maximum of life in prison.
“The unanimous jury verdict holds Omar Lopez Castro accountable for his leadership role in a widespread cocaine trafficking organisation that flooded the streets with hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of cocaine,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated in a statement.
Castro already served a 10-year term for trafficking cocaine from Puerto Rico to New York, according to Williams, and “now faces the prospect of a lengthy prison sentence for his crime.”
