Nicaragua to Deport American Suspected Of Drug Trafficking
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Nicaraguan officials said today that they will deport to the United States an American pilot who crash-landed his private plane in Nicaragua last month in what authorities described as a drug-related flight. Nicaraguan officials said today that they will deport to the United States an American pilot who crash-landed his private plane in Nicaragua last month in what authorities described as a drug-related flight. The Nicaraguan Foreign Minister, Miguel d’Escoto Brockman, said in an interview that the 39-year-old pilot, Arthur Henry Burton Jr., would be handed over in the next few days to officials at the American Embassy. The officials had asked for Mr. Burton’s deportation in connection with an unspecified criminal investigation in the United States. A spokesman for the American Embassy in Managua, Lou Falino, said a State Department consular officer had visited Mr. Burton in prison under standard procedures for assisting Americans jailed by foreign authorities. But, citing privacy regulations, he declined to comment further. The case of Mr. Burton attracted strong interest from Nicaraguan leaders, who described it as the first known interception of a drug-trafficking mission on Nicaraguan territory. Signed Confession The case was also cited in support of a recent Nicaragua proposal to coordinate drug enforcement efforts among the United States and Central America nations. Nicaraguan authorities said that Mr. Burton landed his twin-engine plane at an airfield near Puerto Cabezas, on Nicaragua’s Atlantic coast, after the fuel system malfunctioned. The plane contained no drugs and little documentation, but Nicaraguan officials provided a confession signed by Mr. Burton that said the crash-landing occurred while he was on the first leg of a round-trip from New Orleans to Capurgana, Colombia, to pick up 200 kilograms of cocaine. Interviewed on Friday night at an office near the Managua prison where he is being held, Mr. Burton, who lives in Belize, confirmed several basic details contained in the written confession. But he said he would not confirm or deny the drug-related segments. Source : query.nytimes.com |