Honduran Government Detains Two Men for Drug Trafficking

GUALACO, Honduras, Dec. 15, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- This week, Honduras's Special Prosecutor's Office Against Organized Crime, or FESCCO, indicted Honduran nationals Carlos Ramiro Chirinos Solix and Selvin Efraín Henríquez Escobar in connection with the trafficking of 429 kilograms of cocaine to Gualaco, a municipality in the Honduran department Olancho, via plane.

"Drug trafficking and organized crime have no place in Honduras," President Hernández said. "My administration will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law anyone who engages in these criminal activities."

An undercover Honduran police team detected a suspicious plane flying over Gualaco on Sunday night. According to police reports, the flight crew incinerated the plane after it landed.

After an exhaustive search, Honduran police located cocaine from the plane on Mr. Chirinos's property in La Higuera, a village in Gualaco.

In recent months, the Hernández administration has taken several steps to reduce transnational drug trafficking in Honduras. Earlier this year, the administration opened a new maximum-security prison designed to detain drug traffickers. Last month, the Honduran National Inter-Agency Security Force arrested Geffrey Darío Guzmán Tobar, a Libre Alliance mayoral candidate wanted on drug trafficking charges in the United States. Salvador Nasralla and Manuel Zelaya lead the Libre Alliance.

Since taking office in 2014, President Hernández has extradited 17 drug lords to the United States, destroyed 150 airstrips used by drug traffickers, and reduced the homicide rate by nearly 50 percent. According to U.S. State Department data, the number of inbound flights carrying drugs to Honduras dropped 30 percent from 2015 to 2016.

"These latest arrests should serve as a warning to anyone who tries bringing drugs into Honduras," President Hernández said. "My administration will do all in our power to keep our citizens safe -- and our nation free of illicit drugs."

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SOURCE Republic of Honduras