2 ex-officials of Haiti held in drug case

DEA arrested Haiti's ex-police director and drug enforcement head, the latest in deposed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's government to face drug conspiracy charges.

BY JAY WEAVER

jweaver@herald.com


The federal government on Thursday accused the former head of the Haitian National Police and the former chief of the country's drug enforcement agency of cocaine smuggling in a widening investigation aimed at the administration of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents on Wednesday arrested former police chief Jean Nesly Lucien at a Little Haiti home and former drug official Evintz Brillant in Port-au-Prince on conspiracy charges. The pair join two other high-ranking Haitian officials who have been arrested since Aristide was deposed in February.

Federal sources have told The Herald that prosecutors are investigating whether Aristide may have pocketed millions of dollars from Colombian and Haitian traffickers who transported tons of cocaine through the impoverished nation to the United States. They're also investigating reports that Aristide's relatives control about $250 million in European banks.

No evidence has been presented in court implicating Aristide -- now in Jamaica making arrangements to move to South Africa -- in the alleged drug-smuggling conspiracy. Both countries have extradition agreements with the United States.

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It is used to justify unconstitutional methods of repression,
coercion, and political smears; and of course the money is nice.