Ex-Honduras police chief worked with ex-president to ship drugs, prosecutors say

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors on Wednesday unveiled medication and weapons prices in opposition to a former police chief for Honduras, saying he conspired with now-detained former President Juan Orlando Hernandez to ship cocaine to the United States.

Juan Carlos Bonilla, who led the Central American nation’s police between 2012 and 2013 below right-wing President Porfirio Lobo, was extradited from Honduras on Tuesday, and is anticipated to seem in Manhattan federal courtroom on Wednesday.

Bonilla’s extradition got here three weeks after Hernandez, who left workplace in January after eight years in energy, was additionally extradited.

Hernandez pleaded not responsible on Tuesday to accepting thousands and thousands of {dollars} from drug traffickers in change for cover from arrest.

“(Bonilla’s) extradition demonstrates that nobody is exempt by advantage of their title or place of authority, even overseas presidents and police chiefs,” Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, mentioned in a press release.

A U.S.-based lawyer for Bonilla didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Wednesday.

Prosecutors mentioned Bonilla, also called “El Tigre,” directed police to let cocaine shipments go via checkpoints with out being inspected or seized, in change for bribes.

They additionally mentioned Hernandez, whereas serving as president of Honduras’ congress round 2010, helped Bonilla advance his place within the police power in change for shielding his drug trafficking actions.

Bonilla has denied the accusations, and in a letter printed final week in Honduran media wrote that he has a “clear conscience.”

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Bill Berkrot)



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