Former heavyweight boxer Goran Gogic has been charged with shipping more than $1 billion worth of cocaine through US ports, the US Department of Justice announced on Monday.   

  The 43-year-old Montenegrin man was arrested Sunday night as he tried to board an international flight from Miami, the Justice Department said in a press release.   

  Gogic has been charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the Maritime Narcotics Enforcement Act and three counts of violating the Maritime Narcotics Enforcement Act, according to court documents.  If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, with a maximum of life in prison, the DOJ said.   

  Breon Peace, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, described the amounts of cocaine Gogic and his co-conspirators allegedly attempted to traffic as “staggering” and noted that they were more than 20 tons.   

  Between May 2018 and July 2019, Gogic allegedly “conspired with others to distribute massive quantities of cocaine” originating in Colombia to Europe on commercial cargo ships loaded in the US, according to the DOJ and court documents.   

  The Justice Department says US law enforcement officers seized three shipments of cocaine.   

  The largest of the three seizures occurred in the Port of Philadelphia on June 19, 2019, when nearly 20 tons of cocaine were found hidden aboard the MSC Gayane.   

  It was “one of the largest cocaine seizures in United States history” and valued at more than $1 billion, the DOJ said.   

  Gogic’s attorney, Lawrence Hasis, told CNN that he was arrested after appearing in federal court in Miami on Monday and that the charges came as a surprise to his client, adding that Gogic maintains his innocence and had come to the United States for a conference boxing.  in Puerto Rico.   

  Hassis added that Gogic has a detention hearing scheduled for Nov. 7 in federal court in Miami, but the date may change as Gogic is currently in quarantine at the detention center.   

  CNN has reached out to the Montenegrin Consulate in New York for comment.   

  Gogic’s boxing career spanned 11 years, from 2001 to 2012, according to BoxRec.  He retired with a record of 21 wins, four losses and two draws.