The detainees and the seized drugs were transferred to the capital of the Central American country in a Honduran Air Force plane. | Photo: Twitter @MP_Honduras

Honduran mayor arrested after drug seizure

Tegucigalpa, August 30 (RHC)-- The mayor of the Honduran island of Roatan, Jerry Hynds, was arrested for allegedly escorting a tanker truck carrying hidden drugs, reported the Public Prosecutor's Office.

The spokesperson for Honduras' Technical Agency for Criminal Investigation (ATIC), Jorge Galindo, said that the mayor and three other people will be presented before the national territorial court in criminal matters, accused of crimes of aggravated drug trafficking.

Galindo added that a cistern carrying water was detained with 98 bales of cocaine totaling "2,430 kilos of cocaine."  Agents from the Department Against Organized Crime and ATIC Crime Scene Processing Technicians inspected the tanker, where they confirmed the discovery of 98 sacks containing drugs.

The tanker was driven by Honduran Jorge Reiniery Rosales, who was accompanied by national Francisco Federico Gómez.  In the same operation, Hynds, former deputy between 2014 and 2018, and Efrain Rigoberto Santos, who allegedly escorted the tanker, were arrested.

The detainees and the seized drugs were transported to the capital of the Central American country in a Honduran Air Force plane.

The Liberal Party of Honduras, through a communiqué, demanded the judicial authorities to respect the constitutional rights and guarantees of the mayors of Roatan, Jerry Dave Hynds, and Ojojona, Jose Armando Garcia, detained by the police. The latter accused of domestic violence.  

In the document, the Liberal Party also requests that the principle of innocence of the mayors be made to prevail and that the judicial process against them be developed in accordance with the law.