What to Know
- This was the largest bust in the 230-year history of the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol arm of the Department of Homeland Security.
- It is believed to be the second-biggest seizure of cocaine in American history, behind only a 1989 cache seized in Los Angeles.
- All six suspects face life in prison. They allegedly loaded the drugs on the MSC Gayane after 20 small boats pulled alongside off Peru.
Five of the six crew members of a cargo ship who are charged for alleged roles in the historic $1 billion cocaine bust in Philadelphia last week made initial federal court appearances Monday.
Four of the five suspects waived their preliminary hearings, while a fifth suspect asked through his attorney for a continuance. A judge granted it.
All six suspects are Samoan or Serbian. They have been identified as Ivan Durasevic, Nenad Ilic, Aleksandar Kavaia, Bosko Markovic, Laauli Pulu and Fonofaavae Tiasaga.
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They allegedly played on-ship roles in getting some 35,00 pounds of cocaine onto a cargo ship named the MSC Gayane as it left South America for Philadelphia earlier this month.
What U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents found when they raided the Gayane at the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal in South Philadelphia turned into the largest bust in the 230-year history of the federal agency.
If the cocaine bricks discovered by officials had all been lined up in a row, they would have stretched more than two miles, officials said.
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"I have no doubt that our officers saved lives and significantly impacted transnational criminal organizations," Casey Durst, U.S. Customs and Border Protection director of field operations in Baltimore, Maryland, said.
An investigation remains ongoing.
Authorities first spotted "anomalies" while examining seven shipping containers aboard the MSC Gayane, a 1,030-foot Liberian-flagged vessel, Sunday night.
Monday afternoon, officials uncovered more than 17.5 tons of cocaine in 15,582 bricks.
Sources told NBC10 the cocaine was not meant for Philadelphia but instead for the Netherlands and France.
"There were doses enough for two million different individuals," said James W. Carroll Jr., director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
In addition to cocaine, containers were filled with wine, paperboard, vegetable extracts and dried nuts from all over the world.
They were destined for Ireland, Nigeria, South Africa, Lebanon, India and Haiti, officials said.
Records show the MSC Gayane previously stopped in the Bahamas on June 13, Panama on June 9 and May 24, and Colombia on May 19.
Officials with Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the Department of Homeland Security, as well as the Drug Enforcement Administration are involved in the investigation, which one official described as "massive."
The ship's second mate, Durasevic, allegedly admitted to "his role in bringing the cocaine on board the vessel," a federal complaint released a day after the bust said.
It only identified the alleged roles of two of the six suspects.
Durasevic said he was paid $50,000 for his role in the conspiracy, according to court records.
Another crew member, Tiasaga, also allegedly admitted to partaking in loading cocaine on the ship, including on a previous voyage, the complaint said.
At least twice while the ship was en route between stops in Chile and Panama, numerous smaller boats approached the Gayane at sea to hand off large bundles of cocaine, according to the complaint.
