NEW YORK (Reuters) – US prosecutors announced an indictment yesterday of two former top officials at Venezuela’s anti-narcotics agency, including one who became the head of the national guard, over allegations that they took part in a cocaine distribution scheme.
The indictment filed in federal court in Brooklyn identified the officials as Nestor Reverol, the former general director of the anti-narcotics agency and onetime commander of Venezuela’s National Guard, and Edylberto Molina, a former deputy head of the drug agency who later became a Venezuelan military attaché posted in Germany.
The indictment, expected since December when Reuters first reported that charges were expected, comes amid a series of US enforcement actions and probes that have linked individuals connected to the Venezuelan government to international drug trafficking.
US prosecutors said that from January 2008 to December 2010, Reverol, 51, and Molina, 53, took payments from traffickers in exchange for helping them distribute cocaine that would be imported into the United States.
While acting as officials at Venezuela’s La Oficina Nacional Antidrogas, Reverol and Molina alerted traffickers to future drug raids or the locations of law enforcement officers, prosecutors said.
They also took steps to stop or hinder investigations to allow drug-filled vehicles to leave Venezuela and arranged for the release of people arrested in drug cases and the release of cash and drugs seized by law enforcement, prosecutors said.
