The narco-trafficker is suspected of leading a major criminal organization dedicated to the introduction and subsequent distribution of large quantities of cocaine and methamphetamines throughout North America.
A drug trafficker targeted by an Interpol arrest warrant issued by the US authorities was extradited from Portugal to the United States on Friday, the Judicial Police (PJ) said in a statement.
According to the PJ, the drug trafficker is suspected of leading an important criminal organization dedicated to the introduction and subsequent distribution of large quantities of cocaine and meth-amphetamines throughout North America.
The extradition was carried out by the PJ’s National Unit for Combating Drug Trafficking (UNCTE), in conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the US anti-drug agency.
When the drug trafficker was arrested at Lisbon Airport last year, various documents and objects with “presumed evidentiary relevance” to the ongoing investigations in the United States were seized from the suspect’s possession and subsequently handed over to the US authorities, says the PJ.
The detainee, whose nationality has not been revealed, was brought before the Lisbon Court of Appeal, which validated his arrest and ordered that he await extradition in pretrial detention.
The 43-year-old man was handed over on Friday morning to DEA agents, who traveled to Portugal to execute this court order, and was flown to the United States on a DEA aircraft.