According to ABC.net.au, the alleged drug operations of deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro involved the cooperation of a complex international network of actors who used false diplomatic passports, a jungle guerrilla training school, private jets, and crates of grenade launchers, according to a US indictment.
Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were seized from the Venezuelan capital Caracas in the early hours of Saturday, January 3rd, during a US special forces operation.
The couple faced court in New York on Monday charged with narco-terrorism, drugs and weapons offences.
They have pleaded not guilty.
Almost a week after the US attack on Venezuelan soil that led to the couple’s capture, court documents show American authorities continue to hunt the pair’s associates, who they accuse of helping facilitate a multinational illegal drug trade.
This is what is known about the individuals still wanted by the US government.
‘Diplomatic missions provided cover for drug shipments’
The Trump administration has accused Mr Maduro of involvement in a multi-faceted network of actors who cooperated on the shipment of up to 250 tonnes of cocaine into the US each year.
In addition to overseeing and directing individuals along the chain of alleged drug trafficking, Mr Maduro is accused of systematic corruption that fuelled narco-terrorist groups.
Between 2006 and 2008 — five years before he became Venezuelan president — Mr Maduro used his role as then-foreign affairs minister to sell diplomatic passports to known drug traffickers, the indictment alleges.
The court documents claim Mr Maduro would call the Venezuelan embassy in Mexico whenever the alleged traffickers needed to move the profits of their drug shipments back to Venezuela.
Mr Maduro would allegedly advise the embassy of a “diplomatic mission” arriving by private jet, so the aircraft was not searched.
And while traffickers met with the Venezuelan ambassador to Mexico, the aircraft was allegedly loaded with money.
Click here to read the complete, original article by Luke Cooper on ABC.net.au
Source: ABC.net.au
