Honduran ex-president Hernandez helped smuggle cocaine

Honduran authorities seized more than 1.3 tons of cocaine in the Caribbean Sea on Sunday, the Honduran prosecutor's office said.

At least 10 people suspected of smuggling the drug, which probably came from Colombia, were detained.

The officers detained three boats when the suspects were starting to reload goods from one of them to two smaller ones, the prosecutor's office wrote.

Since the 1970s, Honduras has been considered a hub for cocaine transport from South American countries producing the drug to the United States market. Since 2017, the authorities have also been discovering small coca plantations in the mountainous areas of Honduras, Panama's TVN reported.

Former Honduran president, Juan Orlando Hernandez, was found guilty by a New York court in early March of participating in drug smuggling to the United States, which he supported thanks to his control over the army and police.

According to the prosecutor's office, Hernandez "created a cocaine superhighway to the United States."

Hernandez, 55, served two terms as president and was arrested three months after leaving office in 2022 and later handed over to the U.S. justice system, which sought his extradition.

This article was originally published on Onet Travel.