The Honduran authorities extradited a former national police chief to the United States to face drug and weapons charges linked to an alleged conspiracy involving high-ranking Honduran officials, the US Justice Department said on Wednesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th May, 2022) The Honduran authorities extradited a former national police chief to the United States to face drug and weapons charges linked to an alleged conspiracy involving high-ranking Honduran officials, the US Justice Department said on Wednesday.
"Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Anne Milgram, the Administrator of the US Drug Enforcement Administration ('DEA'), announced today the extradition of Juan Carlos Bonilla Valladares, a/k/a 'El Tigre,' on charges of conspiring to import cocaine into the United States and related weapons offenses involving the use and possession of machine guns and destructive devices," the Justice Department said in a press release.
Bonilla Valladares, 62, allegedly used his position to protect and assist drug trafficking organizations, with his associates becoming a critical pipeline for the flow of narcotics from Central America to the United States, the release said.
The Justice Department alleges that Bonilla Valladares exploited his official position to facilitate cocaine trafficking, including by violent means, to protect the cell of politically connected drug traffickers with which he was aligned, the release said.
Other members of the cell purportedly included Honduren congressman Hernandez Alvarado and former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, the release added.
The US is charging Bonilla Valladares with charges including conspiracy to import cocaine and using or carrying a machine gun or destructive device in furtherance of the narcotics conspiracy.
If convicted, Bonilla Valladares faces a sentence of life in prison, according to the release.
