A Surinamese businessman wanted in the United States (US) for cocaine trafficking was extradited this morning.
Edward Quincy Muntslag boarded a commercial flight to New York after he was handed over to US Marshals Service agents who arrived at the Piarco International Airport early this morning.
Muntslag, who was detained by local police while shopping at Trincity Mall in August 2013, spent the past two years attempting to block his extradition through several different legal challenges. His last attempt was dismissed by the Court of Appeal last month, clearing the way for him to be extradited to face trial.
Muntslag, whose family runs a restaurant in Suriname’s capital, Paramaribo, is jointly charged with Dino Bouterse, the 41-year-old son of Suriname’s president Desi Bouterse, for conspiring to import five kilos of cocaine into the US and for using a gun during a drug trafficking crime between 2011 and August 2013.
Bouterse was arrested in Panama shortly after Muntslag was held and has since been extradited to the US.
He was later slapped with an additional charge for providing material support to Lebanese militant and political group Hezbollah, which the US has designated a terrorist organisation. The terrorism charge arose from meetings in Greece and Panama, with undercover US agents posing as representatives of the militant organisation.
Bouterse is said to have agreed to take US$2 million to provide Hezbollah operatives with fake identities, weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, and locations in his country to establish bases to attack US and Dutch targets.
Bouterse pleaded guilty to the charges in August last year, and was sentenced to 16 years in prison in March.