A drug lord wanted for allegedly shipping massive loads of cocaine from South America to the United States was extradited to Texas on Thursday morning.
Honduran national José Luis ‘Lord of the Skies’ Oliva Meza was turned over to Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents at a military base in Tegucigalpa at 6:45 a.m. local time before the agency’s aircraft departed for the U.S. about two hours later.
Oliva Meza, who also holds Nicaraguan nationality, is facing two counts in the Eastern District of Texas.
Honduran drug lord José Luis Oliva Meza is escorted by authorities at an air base in Tegucigalpa, where he was turned over to Drug Enforcement Administration agents on Thursday morning for his extradition to Texas, where he is facing drug trafficking charges
The U.S. Department of Justice requested José Luis Oliva Meza’s extradition in April 2021
The United States Department of Justice submitted a request for his extradition in April 2021.
Oliva Meza is accused of conspiring to manufacture and distribute five or more kilos of a mixture and substance that contained a traceable amount of cocaine, with the intention, knowledge and reasonable cause to illegally smuggle it into the United States.
Federal prosecutors also charged him with producing and distributing five or more kilos of a mixture and substance that contained a traceable amount of cocaine, with the intention, knowledge and reasonable cause to illegally smuggle it into the U.S.
He is also accused of using speed boats, fishing vessels, submarines and airplanes to traffic drugs from South America to the United States.
Oliva Meza had been in custody since May 15 when he was arrested in the northern Caribbean province of Atlántida.
Jose Luis Oliva Meza, a Honduran drug lord known as the ‘Lord of the Skies,’ had been in custody since May 15 when he was arrested in the northern Caribbean province of Atlántida
Special Forces escort alleged drug trafficker José Luis Oliva Meza to an aircraft on a military base in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, before he was extradited to Texas for face drug smuggling charges. At least 34 Hondurans have been handed over to the U.S. federal agents since 2014
He had been previously arrested in August 2020 for illegal possession of a handgun.
In 2021, a Honduran court sentenced Oliva Meza to five years in prison for money laundering and fined him almost $7,000.
As many as 34 Hondurans facing drug charges have been extradited to the United States since 2014.
Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández (center) is taken in handcuffs to an aircraft at an Air Force base in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on April 22 moments before he was extradited to the United States
Juan Antonio Hernández (pictured in 2017) was convicted in a massive drug conspiracy case in a New York City federal court in October 2019 and sentenced to life in prison in March 2021. He is the brother of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández
The highest profile suspect was former President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was turned over to the DEA in April to face drug trafficking and weapons charges in New York.
A former ally of the United States’ battle to destroy drug cartels, Hernández allegedly conspired to traffic thousands of kilos of cocaine into the United States from 2004 to 2022.
He had vowed to ‘stuff the drugs right up the noses of the gringos,’ and received millions of dollars to ‘use his public office, law enforcement, and the military to support drug-trafficking organizations in Honduras, Mexico, and elsewhere.’
Hernández was arrested at his home in Tegucigalpa on February 15 after U.S. authorities filed an extradition request almost three weeks after the end of his eight-year presidential term.
He reportedly received millions of dollars from drug cartels, including from notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman.
During 2019 the trial of his former Congressman brother, Juan Antonio Hernández, a key government witness testified before the New York court that Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán had contributed $1 million ahead of Juan Orlando Hernández’s 2013 presidential campaign in exchange for protection.
The future president sent his brother and an associate – who has not been identified – with machine guns to collect El Chapo’s payment.
Federal prosecutors allege he used that money to finance his 2017 presidential election and engaged in voter fraud.
Juan Antonio Hernández was found guilty by the Southern District of New York on drug trafficking and firearms charges in October 2019. He sentenced to life in prison in March 2021.