NEW YORK - Two former U.S. soldiers have been extradited to New York to face charges of plotting to murder a U.S. federal drug agent and informant as part of an international drug smuggling operation, authorities said.
Joseph Manuel Hunter, 48, nicknamed "Rambo," is charged with recruiting a team of former military snipers, including an ex-U.S. Army sergeant and several former soldiers from other countries, to commit the murders on behalf of two Colombian drug cartel leaders. Those cartel leaders were, in fact, Drug Enforcement Administration informants posing as druglords.
Hunter and Timothy Vamvakias, both former U.S. Army sergeants, and several other suspects were arrested this week and are being transported to New York to face charges that include murder and drug conspiracy, as well as weapons possession.
"The bone-chilling allegations in today's indictment read like they were ripped from the pages of a Tom Clancy novel," said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in a statement. "The charges tell a tale of an international band of mercenary marksmen who enlisted their elite military training to serve as hired guns for evil ends."
The DEA informants agreed to pay Hunter and two others $700,000 for the two killings, as well as an additional $100,000 to Hunter "for his leadership role," according to an indictment filed in New York.
The killings were to take place in Liberia, Bharara said at a press conference on Friday. Hunter and his alleged accomplices - who include Vamvakias, Dennis Gogel and Michael Filter of Germany, and Slawomir Soborski of Poland - were rounded up in a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration sting. Hunter was arrested in Thailand.
Vamvakias and Gogel were apprehended in Liberia, where they had traveled to commit the murders. Filter and Soborski were arrested in Estonia, where they had gone to "provide other services" to the DEA informants posing as Colombians, Bharara said at a press conference on Friday.
Bharara declined to identify the DEA agent and informant targeted for murder as part of the sting operation. The indictment charges that Hunter and his team acted as security for cocaine shipments originating in Asia and bound for the U.S.
http://www.torontosun.com/former-us-soldiers-charged-in-plot
Joseph Manuel Hunter, 48, nicknamed "Rambo," is charged with recruiting a team of former military snipers, including an ex-U.S. Army sergeant and several former soldiers from other countries, to commit the murders on behalf of two Colombian drug cartel leaders. Those cartel leaders were, in fact, Drug Enforcement Administration informants posing as druglords.
Hunter and Timothy Vamvakias, both former U.S. Army sergeants, and several other suspects were arrested this week and are being transported to New York to face charges that include murder and drug conspiracy, as well as weapons possession.
"The bone-chilling allegations in today's indictment read like they were ripped from the pages of a Tom Clancy novel," said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in a statement. "The charges tell a tale of an international band of mercenary marksmen who enlisted their elite military training to serve as hired guns for evil ends."
The DEA informants agreed to pay Hunter and two others $700,000 for the two killings, as well as an additional $100,000 to Hunter "for his leadership role," according to an indictment filed in New York.
The killings were to take place in Liberia, Bharara said at a press conference on Friday. Hunter and his alleged accomplices - who include Vamvakias, Dennis Gogel and Michael Filter of Germany, and Slawomir Soborski of Poland - were rounded up in a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration sting. Hunter was arrested in Thailand.
Vamvakias and Gogel were apprehended in Liberia, where they had traveled to commit the murders. Filter and Soborski were arrested in Estonia, where they had gone to "provide other services" to the DEA informants posing as Colombians, Bharara said at a press conference on Friday.
Bharara declined to identify the DEA agent and informant targeted for murder as part of the sting operation. The indictment charges that Hunter and his team acted as security for cocaine shipments originating in Asia and bound for the U.S.
http://www.torontosun.com/former-us-soldiers-charged-in-plot
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