Produce Importer Sentenced to Prison for Smuggling Cocaine in a Chili Peppers Shipment

Humberto Baez, a Pennsylvania-based produce importer, was sentenced to 13 years in prison Aug. 12 for conspiring to import and distribute cocaine, the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York said. Baez conspired with others to bring in the cocaine in shipping containers from the Dominican Republic between August 2016 and March 2018. Baez first conducted two “dry run” shipments via an importing company which contained only produce to appear as a real business. A third shipment brought into Miami in February 2018 contained around 16 kilograms of cocaine in the flaps of cardboard boxes that also housed chili peppers, the attorney's office said. The shipment was being shipped to Baez's warehouse in Pennsylvania when the container was searched and seized by law enforcement in March 2018.

“Concealing drug shipments with produce is one way drug traffickers try to elude law enforcement,” said acting U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis. “This cat and mouse game evolves over time resulting in law enforcement recovering drugs in various places; such as inside coconuts, wheelchairs, animals, people, tombstones, etc. just to name a few. I applaud the members of the New York Strike Force and the U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of New York for their dedicated work throughout this investigation,” stated Ray Donovan, special agent-in-charge, DEA-New York Division.