Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces Arrest Of Alleged International Narcotics Trafficker

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces Arrest Of Alleged International Narcotics Trafficker

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, August 30, 2013

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Derek Maltz, Special-Agent-in-Charge of the Special Operations Division of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”), announced today that on August 29, 2013, Panamanian authorities arrested DINO BOUTERSE in the Republic of Panama and turned him over to U.S. authorities to face charges that he conspired to import cocaine into the United States. BOUTERSE will be presented and arraigned in Manhattan federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge James C. Francis IV later today.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “As alleged, Dino Bouterse conspired to send cocaine to the United States in a suitcase, and brandished a destructive weapon during the act. With his arrest, this Office continues to make sure that those who attempt to transport drugs into our country are apprehended and brought to justice, no matter where they live.”

DEA Special-Agent-in-Charge Derek Maltz said: “Bouterse is a significant drug trafficker who allegedly possessed dangerous weapons. Bouterse has a history of drug and weapons trafficking, having been convicted of similar charges in his home country of Suriname in 2005. Thanks to our vast network of law enforcement and informants around the world, DEA and our partners disrupted this drug trafficking conspiracy and he and Muntslag will now face justice here in the United States.”

According to the allegations in the Indictment, BOUTERSE conspired to import cocaine into the United States. As part of this conspiracy, BOUTERSE caused a suitcase containing 10 kilograms of cocaine to be transported out of Suriname aboard a commercial flight, and in the course of engaging in the drug transaction possessed an antitank weapon.

EDMUND QUINCY MUNTSLAG, who is also charged in the Indictment, was separately arrested yesterday in Trinidad and Tobago.

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The indictment charges BOUTERSE, 40, of Paramaribo, Suriname, in two counts. Count One charges BOUTERSE with conspiring to import cocaine into the United States. Count Two charges BOUTERSE with carrying a firearm or destructive device during and in relation to a drug-trafficking crime. Counts One and Two each carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.

MUNTLSAG, 29, of Suriname, is charged with conspiring to import cocaine into the United States. The charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding investigative work of the DEA’s Special Operations Division. Mr. Bharara also thanked the DEA’s Panama City Country Office, the DEA’s Port of Spain Country Office, the Government of the Republic of Panama, and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs.

This prosecution is being handled by the Office’s Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Edward Y. Kim, Michael D. Lockard, and Adam Fee are in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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U.S. v. Dino Bouterse and Edmund Quincy Muntslag Indictment

U.S. v. Dino Bouterse and Edmund Quincy Muntslag Indictment by Zack Stieber

Son of Suriname President Desi Bouterse Arrested in Panama

By Zachary Stieber, Epoch Times | August 30, 2013

Dino Bouterse, the son of Suriname President Desi Bouterse, was arrested in Panama on August 29.

The arrest was reported on August 30 by U.S. authorities.

The younger Bouterse is accused of drug smuggling and violating firearms laws since he got out of jail.

He was sentenced to eight years in prison in Suriname in 2005 for drug and weapons smuggling and served several years of the sentence.

Bouterse, 40, now faces a U.S. federal indictment in the Southern District of New York 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.

“Bouterse is a significant drug trafficker who allegedly possessed dangerous weapons,” said Derek Maltz, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency’s special-agent-in-charge, in a statement. “Bouterse has a history of drug and weapons trafficking, having been convicted of similar charges in his home country of Suriname in 2005. Thanks to our vast network of law enforcement and informants around the world, DEA and our partners disrupted this drug trafficking conspiracy and he and Muntslag will now face justice here in the United States.”

Bouterse will appear in Manhattan federal court later today before Judge James Francis IV. He and Muntslag, also of Suriname, both face maximum sentences of life in prison.

Dino was allegedly wiretapped while conducting business that led to his arrest.

A Panamanian government security source speaking on condition of anonymity said that Bouterse was arrested by international police in Panama and was turned over to U.S. anti-drug authorities.

Melvin Linscheer, Suriname’s head of national security, said the government would soon issue a statement. He declined further comment.

Dino Bouterse is a potential successor to President Desi Bouterse,reported the Dutch Public Broadcasting outlet NOS. The arrest comes at a “painful moment” for the president, who is hosting many South American heads of state. They are gathered in the country for the transfer of the chairmanship of the Union of South American Nations to Suriname.

NOS reports that it is “an open secret” that Dino was being watched by foreign intelligence.

Desi Bouterse is a former coup leader and convicted drug trafficker who was elected president of in July 2010. Shortly after his presidential inauguration, Bouterse appointed his son Dino 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.

Prior to his appointment, Dino Bouterse had been charged by Surinamese authorities for various 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 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’s father Desi is a controversial figure in that he has been sentenced to prison for trafficking cocaine. But the conviction was in the Netherlands and he never went to jail. Europol also has an arrest warrant out for him, but since he’s president he is immune to the warrant.

A spokesman with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague told Reuters that the Netherlands isn’t involved in the arrest.

“It is a matter between the United States and Suriname,” he said. The Netherlands weren’t aware of the reasons for the arrest, but the ministry said in a statement it is following the developments in the case closely.

Suriname is in northern South America, above Brazil and next to French Guiana and Guyana.

Story developing; check back for updates.

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U.S. v. Dino Bouterse and Edmund Quincy Muntslag Indictment

The Associated Press contributed to this report.