TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) – A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) plane is scheduled to land in Honduras on Thursday to extradite former President Juan Orlando Hernandez to the United States, a presidential adviser to the Central American nation said Wednesday.
In the United States, Hernandez faces a trial on drug trafficking and arms possession charges.
The plane is scheduled to land at 7:00 a.m. local time (1:00 p.m. GMT) at Toncontin International Airport, presidential adviser Manuel Zelaya, a former president and husband of current president Xiomara Castro, told local television channel HCH.
Hernandez, who was arrested in mid-February after a lengthy stakeout at his home, has been accused of accepting millions of U.S. dollars in bribes in exchange for protecting alleged drug traffickers from investigation and prosecution from 2004 to 2022 when he was president.
He has denied the allegations.
(Reporting by Gustavo Palencia; Writing by Carolina Pulice; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
