27 Apr 2010

US extradites Noriega to France

Manuel Noriega, the former military leader of Panama, has been extradited from the US to France where he has been convicted of money laundering.

manuel-noriega

The former army general and one-time CIA informant, now 76-years-old, was taken from his jail cell and put on board an Air France flight from Miami which was due to arrive in Paris on Tuesday morning.

Noriega has been convicted in absentia in France of laundering money from cocaine profits. He was imprisoned in the US for drug trafficking, racketeering and conspiracy in 1992 after US troops invaded Panama in 1989 to arrest him.

Despite finishing his prison sentence two years ago, Noriega has since remained in a Florida jail where he has been fighting extradition.

Al Jazeera

Also see Wikipedia and U.S. Was Accomplice To Noriega's Crimes (THE BOULDER DAILY CAMERA)