DEA Agent Kills Suspected Trafficker in Honduras
A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent has shot and killed a suspected drug trafficker during a raid in a remote northern area of Honduras known as a landing spot for illicit flights carrying cocaine from South America, U.S. officials said Sunday.
It is the first time a DEA agent has killed someone during an operation since the agency began deploying specially trained agents several years ago to accompany local law enforcement personnel on drug raids in Latin America, said DEA spokeswoman Dawn Dearden.
Saturday’s raid was the fourth operation in two months in a stepped-up U.S.-Honduran effort to fight drug trafficking in the sparsely populated Mosquitia region, where flights from Venezuela land on dirt airstrips and locals are paid to transport the illegal cargo to boats headed to the Caribbean. A similar raid on May 11 killed four people, whom locals claimed were innocent civilians traveling the river at night. Honduran police said the victims were in a boat that fired on authorities. The DEA said none of its agents fired their guns in that incident.