By Gustavo Palencia
TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) – Honduran security forces arrested a former police chief Wednesday after he was on the run for several months, wanted by the United States on drug-trafficking charges, a judicial spokesman said.
Juan Carlos “El Tigre” Bonilla was national police chief in the Central American nation between 2012 and 2013 during the administration of right-wing former President Porfirio Lobo.
Bonilla was arrested while driving through a toll booth near capital Tegucigalpa, according to Melvin Duarte, spokesman for the Supreme Court.
“I can confirm that former police chief Juan Carlos Bonilla was arrested by police officers and tomorrow he will be presented before a judge who ordered his capture,” Duarte told Reuters.
Bonilla has denied the accusations made by U.S. prosecutors, who have sought his extradition since April of 2020.
Former President Lobo’s son, Fabio Lobo, was sentenced in a New York court to 24 years in prison for drug-trafficking in 2017.
Former President Juan Orlando, who left office in January, is also facing a U.S. extradition request over drug-trafficking charges.
(Reporting by Gustavo Palencia, writing by Cassandra Garrison; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
