Honduran ex-president Juan Orlando Hernández is to be extradited to the United States (US) next week. He is involved in a drug-trafficking case. He will face drug trafficking and weapons charges in the US.
Security Minister Ruben Sabillon said, “The extradition will happen next week.” Honduras will get in touch with the US authorities for his surrender. Reportedly, Orlando Hernández would be handed over to agents of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), who would take him to New York.
He and his younger brother Tony Hernández are accused of involvement in a drug trafficking ring. Last year, Tony Hernández was sentenced in the US to life in prison. Orlando Hernández was arrested at his home in Tegucigalpa in February. He has been in police custody since his arrest in February. However, he denied any wrongdoing.
The Honduran Supreme Court on March 28 rejected an appeal from Orlando Hernández to stop the extradition. The appeal against the decision was lodged by Hernández's legal team. The judge granted the extradition request last month. The extradition request, presented to Honduras’s Supreme Court and seen by The New York Times, claimed that Hernández participated in a drug-trafficking conspiracy since 2004.
The United States authorities accused Orlando Hernández of smuggling some 500 tonnes of drugs from Colombia and Venezuela to the US via Honduras in 2004 in return for financial support for his political party. The document further revealed that he received millions of dollars in bribes for facilitating the shipments of drugs.
The US prosecutors in the Southern District of New York also accused him. However, Hernández said that statements against him made by drug traffickers were not true. He denied having any ties to drug traffickers.
Hernández left office in January after he was defeated in the general election. The arrest came less than three weeks after Hernández left office.
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