A court in El Salvador sentenced six foreigners, including three Mexican citizens, to 12 years in prison on Thursday, April 9, for transporting 1.3 tons of cocaine worth 32 million dollars. The individuals were captured in May 2024 off the Salvadoran Pacific coast. The Fourth Sentencing Court of San Salvador imposed the penalty for illicit drug trafficking.
The Fourth Sentencing Court of San Salvador sentenced Mexicans Joel Armento Montoya, Eduardo Contreras Leal, and Alejandro Trías López; Colombians Óscar Arturo Perea Torres and Yonson Rentería de Cuero; and Ecuadorian Miguel Ángel López Vásquez. The six were arrested on May 18, 2024, 880 nautical miles south of El Cordoncillo inlet in Jaltepeque estuary, in the departments of San Vicente and La Paz.
One boat carried the Colombians and the Ecuadorian with the drug bundles, while the Mexicans were on the second vessel with supplies for the trip, according to the Judicial Center. Authorities did not disclose the shipment's destination.
Under President Nayib Bukele's administration, El Salvador has seized 73.8 tons of drugs worth 1.7365 billion dollars, the Judicial Center reported. In 2025, over 25 tons, mostly cocaine, were confiscated in Pacific waters, per Defense Minister René Francis Merino.
