"Prince of Semi-Submersibles" gets 20 years in U.S. prison for operating fleet of cocaine-laden "narco subs"

A Colombian man dubbed the "Prince of Semi-Submersibles" has been sentenced to over 20 years in federal prison for smuggling nearly 30,000 pounds of cocaine into the U.S., prosecutors said on Monday. Oscar Adriano Quintero Rengifo, 35, is accused of operating a fleet of so-called "narco subs" to transport drugs from South America to Central America that were ultimately destined for the United States.

Quintero Rengifo — who also goes by the name Gautala —  was arrested in Colombia on January 29, 2021, and extradited to the United States one year later, the U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Florida, said in a statement. He pleaded guilty on May 20, 2022.

U.S. District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell sentenced Quintero Rengifo to 20 years and 10 months in federal prison. According to the plea agreement, Quintero Rengifo was part of a transnational criminal organization that "primarily sent vessels such as self-propelled semi-submersible vessels to Guatemala, where the cocaine was then smuggled over the Guatemala/Mexican border and then into the United States."