Secure Cocaine Smuggling, Former Honduras Police Chief 'The Tiger' Sentenced To 19 Years In Prison In The US

ILLUSTRATION OF UNSPLASH/MARCIN CZERNIAWSKI

JAKARTA - Former Honduran National Police Chief was sentenced to 19 years in prison for being found guilty of conspiracy to protect the shipment of cocaine to the United States.

Juan Carlos Bonilla Vallawares (64) is better known as "El Tigre" or The Tiger was a member of the Honduras National Police for decades before being its leader for a year in 2012.

He rose to power by allowing large-scale cocaine trade and using violence, including murder, to protect drug trafficking, prosecutors said in a brief report.

Prosecutors previously demanded that The Tiger be sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Meanwhile, the sentence in Manhattan's federal court was ruled by Judge P. Kevin Castel.

Reported by CBS News, Friday, August 2, in a defense report, his lawyer Donald Vogelman requested a 10-year prison sentence.

Lawyers claim Bonilla Valladares is not always involved in illegal activities. Although he admits his guilt in a drug conspiracy, Valladares categorically denies being involved in any murder.

"From time to time he was involved in the drug trade. He actually did a good job of serving his country almost all the time. He is a very talented person who has a very unfortunate double life," Vogelman said.

The lawyer said his client was in a bad health condition and would be an ostracized person if he survived detention and was returned to Honduras.

"He will not return to criminal activities. His life has passed," said the lawyer.

In Honduras, retired Honduras National Police commissioner Henry Osorio Canales said the punishment was the latest example of how institutions in his country served drug smugglers.

"We have a government that is in the hands of criminals, which determines the fate of the people and El Tigre is the military branch," he said.

Bonilla Valladares' son of the same name, Juan Carlos Bonilla, who was present in the courtroom on Thursday, told his father's Honduras HRN radio that he was innocent and only made a guilty confession because he hoped one day he could be released again.

"He told us it was all political persecution," Carlos said.

Today was very difficult to see my father in such a situation. He said his father would appeal his sentence.

Prosecutors said Bonilla Valladares accepted bribes for providing armed protection when cocaine was transported throughout Honduras.

Prosecutors said Bonilla Valladares directed other corrupt law enforcement officers to protect the shipment and provide sensitive information to law enforcement about raids to be carried out on fellow conspirators.

Prosecutors said in return for the bribes paid in the form of drug proceeds, Bonilla Valladares directed members of the Honduras National Police, armed with machine guns, to let cocaine shipments pass through police checkpoints without being questioned or confiscated.