Originally: Haiti’s Anti-Drug Chief Charged with Trafficking
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) – The director of a Haitian police anti-drug task force was arrested after he had his men block off a stretch of highway in the capital to allow a Colombian plane carrying about a ton of cocaine to land, a police spokesman said on Friday.
Evans Brillant, director of the Anti-Drug Trafficking Brigade of the Haitian National Police, was arrested on suspicion of involvement in narco-trafficking on Thursday with five other policemen, police Inspector General Harvel Jean Baptiste told reporters.
“The men were arrested because they were involved in the landing of drugs into the country,” he said.
Jean Baptiste said the six were accused of overseeing the landing last week of a Colombian airplane laden with 1,760 to 2,200 pounds of cocaine on Port-au-Prince’s crime-ridden Route 9.
Police under Brillant’s supervision allegedly set up roadblocks to stop cars and provided security to ensure the cocaine’s delivery, Jean Baptiste said. The cocaine has since disappeared.
The arrest came on the same day two rumored drug kingpins in the affluent Port-au-Prince suburb of Petionville were shot dead by masked men allegedly wearing T-shirts and jackets bearing police insignias.
“The men were arrested because they were involved in the landing of drugs into the country,” he said.
Jean Baptiste said the six were accused of overseeing the landing last week of a Colombian airplane laden with 1,760 to 2,200 pounds of cocaine on Port-au-Prince’s crime-ridden Route 9.
Police under Brillant’s supervision allegedly set up roadblocks to stop cars and provided security to ensure the cocaine’s delivery, Jean Baptiste said. The cocaine has since disappeared.
The arrest came on the same day two rumored drug kingpins in the affluent Port-au-Prince suburb of Petionville were shot dead by masked men allegedly wearing T-shirts and jackets bearing police insignias.
The masked men dragged the two, Hector Kitan and Herman Charles, off a busy Petionville street and took them to the home of a woman they knew, where they killed them in a hail of automatic weapon fire, witnesses said.
U.S. officials said two weeks ago that Haiti — along with Myanmar and Guatemala — had failed to take sufficient action to fight drug trafficking in the past year.
It was the second time Haiti had been so designated in as many years. The United States described the impoverished Caribbean nation of 8 million as a “path of minimal resistance” for narco-traffickers due to weak democratic institutions, corrupt officials and a fledgling police force. President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has denied the charges.
The same week, Le Nouvelliste newspaper published a list of officials whose visas were allegedly revoked by the United States for suspected involvement in drug trafficking. Many of those named were lawmakers and high-ranking officials in the Haitian National Police.
U.S. officials said two weeks ago that Haiti — along with Myanmar and Guatemala — had failed to take sufficient action to fight drug trafficking in the past year.
It was the second time Haiti had been so designated in as many years. The United States described the impoverished Caribbean nation of 8 million as a “path of minimal resistance” for narco-traffickers due to weak democratic institutions, corrupt officials and a fledgling police force. President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has denied the charges.
The same week, Le Nouvelliste newspaper published a list of officials whose visas were allegedly revoked by the United States for suspected involvement in drug trafficking. Many of those named were lawmakers and high-ranking officials in the Haitian National Police.
Several of the officials have since held news conferences confirming the revocation of their visas but denying involvement in the drug trade.