Venezuelan first lady's nephews' U.S. drug trial gets underway

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

WORLD NEWS | Mon Nov 7, 2016 | 1:09pm EST

Venezuelan first lady's nephews' U.S. drug trial gets underway

By Nate Raymond | NEW YORK

A U.S. prosecutor on Monday told jurors that two nephews of Venezuela's first lady sought to use a presidential airport hangar to carry out a multimillion-dollar drug deal, charges that defense lawyers said would not stand up at trial.

Those claims came at the start of the trial in Manhattan federal court of Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas and Efrain Antonio Campo Flores, nephews of Cilia Flores, the wife of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

In his opening statement, Assistant U.S. Attorney Emil Bove said both men were secretly recorded planning to ship 800 kgs of cocaine from Venezuela to Honduras for importation into the United States.

Bove said Flores de Freitas was recorded bragging about how he had "complete control" over a Venezuelan airport, from which drugs would be shipped using a presidential hangar.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-usa-crime-idUSKBN1322AW

[Kittycow]

1. Wow -hadn't heard about this

I hope if they're guilty, they get a guilty verdict and it sticks! But currently I don't have much faith due to high profile bad guys frequently getting away with their crimes at all levels.