The former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, was apprehended by the police this Tuesday, after a judge ordered his capture following an extradition request from the United States that accuses him of links to drug trafficking, confirmed a photographer from the AFP.
Dressed in blue, Hernández left his home and the police immediately put a bulletproof vest on him and handcuffed his hands and feet to transfer him to a police unit to later be presented before a judge.
Earlier, the former president’s lawyers said in a statement that “given the manifest will of Mr. Hernández to voluntarily submit to the extradition process, the need to proceed with the issuance of the arrest warrant is not appreciated.”
The former president also released an audio in which he said he was “ready to collaborate and voluntarily arrive” at the court hearing that will decide his fate, “in order to face this situation and defend myself.”
Hernández, who left the Honduran presidency on January 27 after eight years in office, has been implicated by New York prosecutors as having ties to drug trafficking. His brother, former deputy “Tony” Hernández, was sentenced in March 2021 to life imprisonment in the United States for that crime.
Hernández is accused of three counts by the requesting country.
The first is “conspiracy to import a controlled substance into the United States (…) with the intent and knowledge that such substance would be unlawfully imported into the United States.”
He is also accused of “using or carrying firearms, or helping to abet the use, carrying and possession of firearms (…) machine guns and destructive devices.”
The third charge is for “conspiracy to use or carry firearms (…) in support of the conspiracy to import narcotics” into the United States.
