Authorities extradited eight Colombian citizens to the United States on drug trafficking charges Thursday morning, Colombian media reported.
According to Director of the Colombian Judicial Police (DIJIN) Carlos Ramiro Mena, the eight people were members of the criminal gangs “Los Rastrojos” and “Los Paisas.”
Among those extradited were Ashly James Francis and Waldir Forbes Suarez, accused of establishing the San Andres island as a platform for sending drugs from Colombia to North America and Europe. The two have been ordered to appear before a Florida court, where they are being investigated on charges of trafficking more than a ton of cocaine.
Jose Guillermo Henao, brother of the presumed murderers of soccer player Andres Escobar, killed in 1994, was also extradited, on charges of serving as a link between Los Paisas and Mexican drug trafficker Joaquin Guzman Loera, alias “El Chapo Guzman,” according to newspaper El Pais.
The suspected drug traffickers were first transferred from the maximum security prison La Picota in Bogota to the Colombian Anti-narcotics Police air base, where they were met by a delegation from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and flown to the U.S.