It took a lot of hard work to smuggle more than $6.5 million worth of cocaine — crammed inside a corporate jet — into Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport last Thanksgiving, but it was all for naught.
The three men who pleaded guilty to their roles in the major drug conspiracy were sentenced Monday to federal prison terms.
Federal prosecutors said the Ecuadorian drug-trafficking ring responsible for flying the drug from Venezuela to South Florida had meticulously planned the operation.
Members of the drug ring worked over two days to remove the panels, seats and floorboards inside a 1976 Gulfstream II jet, then carefully measured the aircraft to calculate precisely how much of the illegal substance they could stuff inside the plane.