Panama extradites Colombian drug trafficker requested by U.S.
PANAMA CITY,(Xinhua) -- Panama has extradited Colombia's suspect drug trafficker William Johny Tamayo Hernandez to the United States, the country's National Police said on Friday.
Tamayo, accused of drug trafficking and murdering, was handed over to U.S. federal agents who took him on a commercial flight to New York on Thursday.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency also accused Tamayo of being a conspirator of crimes related to drug trafficking.
Panamanian Foreign Minister Samuel Lewis Navarro confirmed Tamayo's extradition to the United States, saying that the cooperation mechanisms between the two countries were working.
Tamayo, who was coordinating a meeting in Panama City between members from Colombian and Mexican drug cartels, was arrested on Oct. 10 when dining at a restaurant in the city.
U.S. authorities described Tamayo as the right-hand man of Colombian drug trafficker Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia, leader of the Norte del Valle drug cartel, who was captured in Brazil last year and has been extradited to the United States.
