--- description: A Honduran man has pleaded guilty to attempting to smuggle drugs into the U.S. underwater in his scuba gear title: Man Tried to Smuggle Drugs Underwater in Scuba Gear image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Man Tried to Smuggle Drugs Underwater in Scuba Gear  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 20, 2015 12:03 PM CUT  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 20, 2015 12:03 PM CUT A Honduran man has pleaded guilty to attempting to smuggle drugs into the U.S. underwater in his scuba gear. Evelio Padilla-Zepeda was attempting to enter the United States via a tunnel from Mexico that was partially submerged in water, [the LA Times reports](http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-smuggler-wetsuit-20150819-story.html "undefined"). He was planning on floating down the canal in a wetsuit with scuba tanks and 25 airtight packages of cocaine. He had 55 pounds of the drug. Border agents captured him on April 25\. Zepeda pleaded guilty Wednesday and could face up to 20 years in prison. \[[LA Times](http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-smuggler-wetsuit-20150819-story.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4004480/drug-smuggle-underwater-scuba/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4004480/drug-smuggle-underwater-scuba/"},"headline":"Man Tried to Smuggle Drugs Underwater in Scuba Gear","datePublished":"2015-08-20T12:03:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T10:19:00.029Z","description":"Points for creativity","url":"https://time.com/4004480/drug-smuggle-underwater-scuba/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4004480/drug-smuggle-underwater-scuba/","name":"Man Tried to Smuggle Drugs Underwater in Scuba Gear"}}]}] ```