CNN
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Former heavyweight boxer Goran Gogic was charged with the maritime trafficking of over $1 billion value of cocaine by way of US ports, the US Department of Justice said on Monday.
The 43-year-old Montenegrin was arrested on Sunday evening as he tried to board a global flight from Miami, the DOJ mentioned in a information launch.
Gogic has been charged with one rely of conspiracy to violate the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act and three counts of violating the Maritime Drug Regulation Enforcement Act, in line with courtroom paperwork. If convicted, he faces a compulsory minimal sentence of 10 years in jail, with an higher threshold of life in jail, the DOJ mentioned.
Breon Peace, US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, described the portions of cocaine that Gogic and his co-conspirators allegedly tried to maneuver as “staggering” and famous that it was greater than 20 tons.
Between Might 2018 and July 2019, Gogic allegedly “conspired with others to distribute huge portions of cocaine” sourced from Colombia to Europe on business cargo ships loaded within the US, in line with the DOJ and courtroom paperwork.
The DOJ says US legislation enforcement officers seized three shipments of cocaine.
The biggest of the three seizures occurred on the Port of Philadelphia on June 19, 2019, when practically 20 tons of cocaine have been discovered hidden on board the MSC Gayane.
It was “one of many largest seizures of cocaine in United States historical past” and price over $1 billion, the DOJ mentioned.
Gogic’s lawyer Lawrence Cannabis advised CNN that he was detained after showing in federal courtroom in Miami on Monday and that the fees got here as a shock to his consumer, including that Gogic maintains his innocence, and he had come to the US for a boxing conference in Puerto Rico.
Cannabis added that Gogic has a detention listening to set for November 7 in Miami federal courtroom, however the date is topic to vary as Gogic is presently in quarantine within the detention heart.
CNN reached out to the Consulate of Montenegro in New York for remark.
Gogic’s boxing profession spanned 11 years, from 2001 to 2012, in line with BoxRec. He retired with a document of 21 wins, 4 defeats and two attracts.
