Noriega Adios and adieu..Extradited to france to face more drug trafficking charges
- Noriega (AP Photo/File)
A federal law enforcement source tells CBS News that U.S. Marshals escorted Noriega to Miami International Airport and he is now aboard an Air France flight headed for Paris.
Noriega was calm and cooperative during the transfer.
In January, the Supreme Court decided not to stop the U.S. government from sending Noriega to France to face money laundering charges.
The high court refused to hear an appeal from Noriega, who wanted to be sent back to his native country after finishing his drug sentence in the United States.
Noriega was the only person currently being detained by the United States as a prisoner of war, government officials said.
Noriega was ousted as Panama's leader and brought to Miami to stand trial following a 1989 U.S. invasion that drove him from power. He was convicted of drug racketeering and related charges in 1992 and declared a prisoner of war by U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler.
That drug sentence ended on Sept. 9, 2007, but Noriega remains at the same Miami prison where he served his drug sentence.
A few weeks before his sentence ended, the U.S. filed papers backing France's request that Noriega be extradited to stand trial on drug money-laundering charges there. Noriega was convicted in absentia of laundering some $3 million in drug proceeds, but France has agreed to give him a new trial.
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