Accused Colombia FARC rebels extradited to U.S.
NEW YORK, April 17 (Reuters) - Three accused members of the Colombian rebel group FARC were extradited from Panama on Friday and charged in Manhattan federal court with conspiring to support a terrorist organization.
Alexis Freddy Mosquera-Renteria, Yarlei Banol-Ramos and Jorge Abel Ibarguen-Palacio, all Colombian nationals, were arrested off the coast of Panama in February following a shootout with the Panamanian maritime police.
"This prosecution is another important step in our efforts against the FARC, a violent narco-terrorist organization whose goal is to destabilize the democratically elected governments of Colombia and other Latin American countries," said Acting U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin.
According to U.S. and Colombian authorities, the FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, funds its operations through cocaine trafficking and extortion. U.S. officials say it has evolved into the world's biggest supplier of cocaine.
The men are members of the 57th Front, a FARC unit believed to be involved in cocaine trafficking and that funds its activities in part by kidnapping foreign tourists and demanding ransom for their release, prosecutors said.
A search of their boat recovered explosives and detonators, automatic rifles, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, communication equipment and camouflage FARC uniforms with armbands, prosecutors said.
The men will next appear in court on May 18. (Reporting by Edith Honan; Editing by Michelle Nichols and Xavier Briand)
Alexis Freddy Mosquera-Renteria, Yarlei Banol-Ramos and Jorge Abel Ibarguen-Palacio, all Colombian nationals, were arrested off the coast of Panama in February following a shootout with the Panamanian maritime police.
"This prosecution is another important step in our efforts against the FARC, a violent narco-terrorist organization whose goal is to destabilize the democratically elected governments of Colombia and other Latin American countries," said Acting U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin.
According to U.S. and Colombian authorities, the FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, funds its operations through cocaine trafficking and extortion. U.S. officials say it has evolved into the world's biggest supplier of cocaine.
The men are members of the 57th Front, a FARC unit believed to be involved in cocaine trafficking and that funds its activities in part by kidnapping foreign tourists and demanding ransom for their release, prosecutors said.
A search of their boat recovered explosives and detonators, automatic rifles, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, communication equipment and camouflage FARC uniforms with armbands, prosecutors said.
The men will next appear in court on May 18. (Reporting by Edith Honan; Editing by Michelle Nichols and Xavier Briand)
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