{{Guinea-Bissau’s top military official General Antonio Indjai is being accused by the US government of plotting to traffic cocaine to the United States and sell weapons to Colombian rebels, according to court documents.}}
Guinea Bissau authorities repeatedly have denied any involvement in drug trafficking and Indjai is believed to be in the country.
The indictment filed in New York’s Southern District Court, charges Indjai on four counts: “narco-terrorism conspiracy”, conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, cocaine importation conspiracy and conspiracy to acquire and transfer anti-aircraft missiles.
Washington has labeled Colombia’s FARC rebel group (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) a terrorist organization.
Guinea-Bissau’s military has long been accused of involvement in trafficking tons of Latin American cocaine, using its mangrove-lined offshore islands as cover against the region’s notoriously weak law enforcement.
U.S. undercover agents snared Guinea-Bissau’s former Navy chief rear admiral in a high-seas drugs sting on April 2 – the most high-profile score in the U.S. war on drugs in Africa.
Sources familiar with the operation say Indjai was also targeted, but he dodged the planned arrest by refusing to meet the undercover agents in international waters.
Indjai seized control of Guinea Bissau in a coup last April before he ceded power to a transitional government led by a civilian president, Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo, in a deal brokered by West African regional bloc ECOWAS.
The European Union and the CPLP grouping of Portuguese speaking nations have since refused to recognize Nhamadjo’s administration, claiming it remains under the control of military officials involved in the drugs trade.
{Guinea-Bissau armed forces chief-of-staff General Antonio Indjai (C) leaves a meeting with the president and the regional body of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in the capital Bissau November 7, 2012.}
{Wirestory}
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