MIAMI - An 18-year-old Puerto Rican man was arrested on Monday on drug smuggling charges by special agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
Jose Manuel Torres Perez is charged with importing five kilograms or more of cocaine into the United States. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years to life in prison.
According to the criminal complaint, Perez arrived into the Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport on a flight from Bogota, Colombia. He proceeded to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) enclosure and presented himself and his luggage to CBP officers for inspection and entry into the United States.
Within the luggage claimed by Perez, there were multiple paper shopping bags containing different articles of clothing. In addition, he claimed bags containing various types of candies. CBP officers discovered that the bottom of these bags contained cocaine. Upon this discovery, CBP inspected the bags of candy more closely. CBP inspectors field-tested one of each type of candy and found that each type of candy also tested positive for cocaine. In total, CBP determined that Perez possessed about 9.6 kilograms (21 pounds) of cocaine.
Perez made his initial appearance on Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lurana S. Snow in Fort Lauderdale. He was ordered temporarily detained pending his pre-trial detention hearing on Nov. 9 at 10:30 a.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robin S. Rosenbaum.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Randy Katz, Southern District of Florida, is prosecuting this case.
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