Executive Summary
- Jairo Aldres Alzate Milan, a former Colombian military intelligence officer, has been sentenced to 65 months in federal prison.
- He pleaded guilty to conspiring to import nearly 10 kilograms of cocaine from Colombia into the United States.
- Court documents show Milan arranged logistics for transporting the drugs via cargo plane to New York.
- He was arrested in Colombia in 2021 and extradited to the U.S. in September 2024 to face the charges.
WASHINGTON — A former intelligence officer in the Colombian National Army has been sentenced to more than five years in federal prison for his role in a conspiracy to traffic nearly 10 kilograms of cocaine into the United States. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia confirmed the sentencing.
Jairo Aldres Alzate Milan, 36, was sentenced on October 8 to 65 months in prison, to be followed by four years of supervised release. He had previously pleaded guilty in May to the charge of unlawful distribution of 500 grams or more of cocaine intended for importation into the United States.
According to court documents, Milan engaged in a series of meetings in early 2019 to coordinate the drug trafficking operation. The plan involved using cargo planes to transport a shipment of cocaine from Santa Marta, Colombia, through Guatemala, with a final destination of New York. On January 29, 2019, Milan met with an individual to confirm pricing and transportation costs for the shipment.
The investigation culminated on March 5, 2019, when Milan was recorded on audio and video in Cali, Colombia, finalizing the deal. He provided ten bricks of cocaine, weighing a total of 9.85 kilograms, in exchange for 45 million Colombian Pesos, which is equivalent to approximately $13,000 USD. Subsequent laboratory testing by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) confirmed that nine of the ten bricks tested positive for cocaine.
Milan was arrested in Colombia on May 22, 2021, and was extradited to the United States on September 12, 2024, to face prosecution for his involvement in the international drug trafficking conspiracy.