US arrests Bouterse’s son on drugs, weapon charges - flown to NY

US arrests Bouterse’s son on drugs, weapon charges – flown to NY

Aug 31, 2013 News

The son of the President of Suriname has been arrested on U.S. drug and weapon charges, federal prosecutors said Friday.
Dino Bouterse, Director of Suriname’s anti-terrorism unit, was arrested Thursday in Panama by local authorities and turned over to U.S. agents, said Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Dino bouterse

His arrest, according to an Associated Press (AP) story, comes as his father, Desi Bouterse, himself convicted of drug offences, hosts the annual UNASUR summit for leaders of South American countries. Officials in Suriname announced Friday that the opening statement by Desi Bouterse would be postponed by several hours.
Local government officials have declined further comment.
Dino Bouterse was scheduled to appear in Manhattan federal court yesterday afternoon after being flown to New York late Thursday, officials said.
“Bouterse is a significant drug trafficker,” said Derek Maltz, special agent-in-charge with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Bouterse faces a U.S. federal indictment alleging he worked with a man identified as Edmund Quincy Muntslag to smuggle cocaine into the United States starting in or about December 2011. It also charges him with violating firearms laws by brandishing a light anti-tank weapon during the narcotics offense.
The indictment says Bouterse was involved in smuggling a suitcase filled with 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of cocaine aboard a commercial flight from Suriname to the Caribbean in late July.
Federal prosecutors said Muntslag was arrested Thursday in Trinidad.
Bouterse’s father is a former coup leader and convicted drug trafficker who was elected president of Suriname in July 2010. Shortly after his inauguration, Bouterse appointed his son as director of Suriname’s Counter Terrorist Unit, drawing heavy criticism from opposition legislators who expressed concern that no legal framework was created for the unit to operate.
In 2011, unit officials were criticized for acting as police officers when they killed two men suspected in several violent crimes.
In August 2002, prosecutors in Suriname charged Dino Bouterse with stealing 50 guns from the government intelligence service. Police at the time accused Bouterse of fleeing to Curacao to avoid arrest, although his father said Bouterse had traveled there for personal business.
A year later, prosecutors dropped charges, citing a lack of evidence.
Police detained the younger Bouterse again in September 2004 after seizing a large number of assault weapons, ammunition and 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of cocaine from a local auto shop.
He was sentenced to eight years in prison in August 2005 after a judge found him guilty of leading a ring that trafficked in cocaine, illegal arms and stolen luxury cars.
Dino Bouterse is not unknown in Guyana. He is mentioned in the famous Wikileaks cables.
In 2006, former US Ambassador to Guyana, Roland Bullen, in a confidential cable to his superiors in Washington DC, US, said that the younger Bouterse may have been involved in moving weapons to the village of Buxton on the East Coast of Demerara, at the time known to be a hotbed of criminal activities.
“Desi Bouterse’s son Dino organized a Surinamese soccer team’s trip to Buxton a few years ago. It is believed that the team bus carried weapons to Buxton,” the cable said.
That particular cable examined the relationship between convicted Guyanese drug kingpin Roger Khan and President Bouterse, and the fallout from the former’s arrest shortly before.

3 thoughts on “US arrests Bouterse’s son on drugs, weapon charges – flown to NY”

GT@heart August 31, 2013 at 9:18 am

One by One these leaders, oops I meant to say drug and arms leaders will be caught and turn over to the U.S. because it’s only here they would get a fair trial and we have the assurance that they will be convicted. If it was in my beloved Guyana and his hometown nothing will become of this story,it will be the forgotten story.
Emile_Mervin August 31, 2013 at 10:22 am

If Dino was supplying guns to Buxton criminal gangs, and Dino and Roger had a working relationship, does this not bolster the long held suspicion that Roger was financing rival gangs to battle each other in his bid to appear as The Answer?

At the time he was chased out of Guyana, it was reported that he was getting ready to orchestrate social upheaval and then rush in like a savior, thereby fortifying his position as the de facto national security honcho. Some Guyanese harbor the belief he saved lives, but it is becoming increasingly clearer that he probably took more than he saved.

If Dino and Roger did have a working relationship smuggling drugs and guns, it may be time for an international inquiry to determine the extent to which this international relationship affected national politics, because it is obvious that foreign drugs money influenced Guyana’s major political power brokers.

Jagdeo did promise a police probe of Roger after his New York trial was over. Almost five years later and no police probe. Will Dino sing in exchange for leniency?
MrHFMetz . August 31, 2013 at 11:33 am

That is very good news. He got away from the law in Surinam, but now the yankees will take care of him.