Secret report: Honduras' new top cop helped cartel move coke

Christopher Sherman, Martha Mendoza and Garance Burke, Associated Press
Updated 9:12 am, Friday, January 26, 2018

MEXICO CITY (AP) — When Jose David Aguilar Moran took over as Honduras' new national police chief last week, he promised to continue reforming a law enforcement agency stained by corruption and complicity with drug cartels.

But a confidential Honduran government security report obtained by the Associated Press says Aguilar himself helped a cartel leader pull off the delivery of nearly a ton of cocaine in 2013.

The clandestine haul of more than 1,700 pounds of cocaine was packed inside a tanker truck that, the report says, was being escorted by corrupt police officers to the home of Wilter Blanco, a drug trafficker recently convicted in Florida and now serving a 20-year sentence.

Aguilar, who at the time was serving as chief of intelligence for Honduras' National Police, intervened after a police official safeguarding the drugs was busted by a lower-ranked officer who had seized the tanker, the report says. The handcuffed officer called Aguilar, who ordered that the officer and the tanker be set free, says the report which was prepared by the Honduran Security Ministry's Inspector General.

More:
http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Secret-report-Honduras-new-top-cop-helped-12526982.php