The former security chief for Haiti's ousted president once demanded a cut of the profits from drugs smuggled through his country, federal officials said Monday. Oriel Jean, chief of palace security for Jean-Bertrand Aristide from 2001 to 2003, appeared in court in Miami to face charges of conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the United States. He was ordered held without bond. Four witnesses told investigators that Jean was "intimately involved" with smuggling cocaine, said Joe Kilmer, a spokesman for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. Jean, who worked for Haiti's government for a dozen years, was arrested in Toronto earlier this month and sent Friday to Florida. Guidy Mamann, Jean's Toronto-based attorney, did not immediately return a phone call Monday. He has said prosecutors are using "trumped up" evidence to pressure Jean for information about Aristide, who fled Haiti late last month as rebels were closing in on the capital.
| JB's out, no need for information. We can fry your sorry butt instead. |
According to court documents, the witnesses, none of whom were named, told authorities that Jean demanded 10 percent of the proceeds from all drugs smuggled through the Port-au-Prince airport. At least two witnesses reported giving Jean $50,000 payments.
| Wonder if we have room for him next to Noreiga? |
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