Konstantin Yaroshenko is a pilot arrested in Liberia for preparing to transport a large consignment of drugs. Was taken to the United States and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko: biography
Konstantin was born on 10/13/68 in Rostov-on-Don. After graduating in 1991 from a flight school in Krasny Kut, Saratov region, he worked as an An-32 pilot at a helicopter plant in Rostov-on-Don. Later he was engaged in cargo and passenger transportation on An-32 aircraft in African countries. True, he himself stated that he did not transport cargo, but was an aviation expert.
In 1992 Konstantin Vladimirovich Yaroshenko married Victoria Viktorovna. The couple have a daughter Ekaterina born in 1997
Sentence
09/07/11 Preet Bharara, New York District Attorney, announced that Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko has been sentenced to 20 years in federal court in Manhattan for conspiring to import $100 million worth of cocaine into the United States. He was found guilty in April 2011 after a three-week jury trial involving District Judge JedRakoff.
Operation Ruthless
The drug smuggler's conviction is the culmination of the historic Joint Undercover Operation Ruthless by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the government of Liberia.
Manhattan Prosecutor Preet Bharara said that Konstantin Yaroshenko agreed to participate in a large-scale international conspiracy aimed at turning Liberia into a drug distribution center. But the accomplices did not know that the officials they attempted to bribe were cooperating with the DEA, which helped to neutralize the criminals. The verdict was the result of these joint efforts.
According to the evidence in the case and other documents, Konstantin Yaroshenko, a citizen of the Russian Federation, was a pilot and air transport specialist who transported thousands of kilograms of cocaine through Latin America, Africa and Europe. Yaroshenko's accomplice Chigbo Peter Umeh from Nigeria was an intermediary who facilitated the shipment of many tons of drugs from Latin America to West Africa, from where the cargo was supposed to proceed to Europe or other African countries.
Attempt to bribe
Konstantin Yaroshenko and Umeh Chigbo attempted to bribe a senior Liberian government official to protect cocaine shipments and use the country as a transshipment base for their drug trafficking operations. In particular, Umeh met with the director and deputydirectors of the National Security Agency of the Republic of Liberia (RLNSA), whom he knew were government officials. Both heads of intelligence agencies secretly collaborated with the DEA. The director of the RLNSA was also the son of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
During a series of meetings with Liberian officials, Konstantin Yaroshenko and Umeh met a confidential source collaborating with the DEA (hereinafter CI) who posed as a business partner and confidant of the RLNSA director. In an effort to ensure the safe passage of cocaine shipments, they agreed to make cash and drug payments to officials and CI. A source told Yaroshenko and Umekh that part of the drugs paid by the KP will be transported from Liberia to Ghana, from where it will be imported to New York.
Confidential source
Yaroshenko and Umeh engaged in a series of face-to-face meetings and phone calls with government officials and CI in connection with at least three different shipments of cocaine they were trying to smuggle through Liberia:
- a consignment of cocaine weighing approximately 4,000 kg with a retail value of more than $100 million, which was supposed to be shipped from Venezuela to Monrovia;
- batch weighing about 1500 kg from Venezuela to Monrovia on a Panamanian aircraft;
- a batch of drug weighing about 500 kg, which was supposed to be transported to the coast of Liberia by ship from Venezuela.
They agreed that after cocaine would betransported to Liberia, part of the consignment representing the CI payment will be transported to Ghana. There it was to be placed on a commercial flight to the United States.
During a meeting in Monrovia, Umeh said that 4,000 kg of the drug, destined for entry into Liberia, was supplied and guarded by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a US-recognized foreign terrorist group that aims to violently overthrow the democratically elected government countries.
Foreign Ministry protest
28.05.10 Yaroshenko Konstantin Vladimirovich was arrested. The government of the republic extradited him to the United States to face drug trafficking charges in the Southern District of New York.
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement that the United States violated international law. The ministry accused the United States of kidnapping a Russian citizen in a third country. The actions of special services to secretly and forcibly transfer a Russian citizen to New York from Monrovia, from the point of view of Russian officials, were open lawlessness.
US State Department apologized for the misunderstanding. The spokesman said the United States takes consular notification requirements seriously and is doing everything it can to meet its international obligations, including providing consular access. But in this case, an unfortunate mistake occurred: the employee pressed the wrong button on the fax, and the notification was sent to Romania.
Final
In addition to the prison term, Judge Rakoff sentenced 42-year-old Yaroshenko to five years of supervision and to pay a special duty in the amount of $100.
Accomplices Umekh, Nathaniel French and Kudufiya Mavuko appeared in court together with the Rostov pilot. Umech was found guilty and sentenced to 30 years in prison. French and Mavuko were acquitted.
Mr. Bharara praised the work of the DEA Special Operations Unit, the DEA offices in Lagos, Warsaw, Bogotá, Rome, the US Department of Justice Office of International Affairs and the US Department of State. He also thanked the US Embassy in Liberia, the Republic of Liberia and its National Security Agency and the Security Service of Ukraine for their efforts.
The prosecution was supported by Deputy Attorneys Christopher Lavigne, Randal Jackson, Michael Rosenzaft and Jenna Debs. The judge, the prosecutor and his deputies became persons involved in the "Magnitsky counter-list", which they were denied entry to Russia.
Konstantin Yaroshenko: biography of a prisoner
In 2013, the prosecutor's office of the Southern District officially announced that Yaroshenko worked for arms dealer Viktor Bout, convicted in the United States for 25 years in prison. Evidence of this is contained in the records of the pilot's conversations with DEA agents. Konstantin Yaroshenko, a pilot whose biography is closely connected with Bout, has been smuggling for a long time and has spoken about his employer more than once.
Russia blames the US
In 2015Russia has accused the United States of mistreating a convicted drug smuggler because he is not getting the medical attention he needs.
Foreign Minister Konstantin Dolgov, authorized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, claimed that Yaroshenko had experienced he alth problems in recent years and did not receive proper medical care from the authorities. In his opinion, this is a gross violation of the rights of the prisoner. Dolgov said he was not going to put up with this and would continue to insist on his right to proper medical care.
Russia filed a complaint about the prisoner's he alth problems, including heart disease, with the US Embassy in Moscow on November 12, 2015.
Aleksey Tarasov, the pilot's lawyer, sent a letter to the Red Cross asking for assistance in examining the patient by an independent specialist or a Russian doctor. He stated that the prisoner was running out of medication and needed treatment for chronic diseases and pain relief.
January 21, 2016 Konstantin Yaroshenko underwent an unscheduled operation at a Trenton, New Jersey hospital after repeatedly complaining of he alth problems. Lawyer Aleksey Tarasov, after the surgery, claimed that the drug carrier did not receive postoperative medication on time, as the penitentiary staff rejected his request.
OSCE Statement
Responding to Russia's accusations that a Russian was beaten and tortured during his arrest, Daniel Baer, Ambassador of the US Mission to the OSCE, said thatthe pilot was fed, allowed to bathe and sleep for the entire 48 hours he spent in custody in Liberia. 05/30/10 Konstantin Yaroshenko was photographed and examined - no signs of torture were found. Upon arrival in the United States, the detainee filled out a form in which he indicated that he had no pain or injury. No medical or dental record since that time supports his allegations of torture and beatings. Yaroshenko speaks English and regularly visits doctors, but has never complained officially. Representatives of Russia and his lawyer also regularly meet with the prisoner: on 10/26/15 he was visited by an employee of the consulate, and on 12/20/15 - by a lawyer.
