This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/04/colombia-police-chief-drug-charges
The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Colombian ex-police chief flown to US to face drug charges | Colombian ex-police chief flown to US to face drug charges |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| A retired police general who served as chief of security for former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe has surrendered to the authorities and was flown to the US to face drug-trafficking charges. | A retired police general who served as chief of security for former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe has surrendered to the authorities and was flown to the US to face drug-trafficking charges. |
| Mauricio Santoyo handed himself over to US agents and was flown to Dulles International airport in Virginia in a US government plane, authorities said. He was to appear before a federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia, on Thursday, the local US attorney's office said in a statement. | Mauricio Santoyo handed himself over to US agents and was flown to Dulles International airport in Virginia in a US government plane, authorities said. He was to appear before a federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia, on Thursday, the local US attorney's office said in a statement. |
| An indictment in eastern Virginia charges Santoyo with conspiracy to export cocaine and alleges that he betrayed international counter-narcotics operations from 2002 to 2008. It claims he conducted unauthorised wiretaps on behalf of drug-traffickers and identified murder targets for them. | |
| He is alleged to have received at least $5m (£3.2m) in return. | He is alleged to have received at least $5m (£3.2m) in return. |
| Santoyo was Uribe's security chief from 2002 to 2005. | Santoyo was Uribe's security chief from 2002 to 2005. |
| The case has been a major issue in Colombia, source of most of the cocaine sold in the US, because of Santoyo's privileged post in Uribe's government, which forged a peace pact with far-right militias, whose leaders included major drug-traffickers. | The case has been a major issue in Colombia, source of most of the cocaine sold in the US, because of Santoyo's privileged post in Uribe's government, which forged a peace pact with far-right militias, whose leaders included major drug-traffickers. |
| Before being appointed to the post, Santoyo had run an anti-kidnapping unit in Medellin, where individuals under his command are alleged to have engaged in illegal wiretaps, including of two human rights activists who later disappeared. | Before being appointed to the post, Santoyo had run an anti-kidnapping unit in Medellin, where individuals under his command are alleged to have engaged in illegal wiretaps, including of two human rights activists who later disappeared. |
| The US indictment alleges Santoyo betrayed the Colombian state on behalf of a criminal organisation called the Envigado Office, which in addition to engaging in drug-trafficking also provided "enforcers" including assassins. |