A former navy chief of the small West African nation of Guinea-Bissau who is suspected of being a kingpin in the international cocaine trade has been brought to the U.S. and is being held by authorities in New York City following his arrest at sea by federal drug agents, a law enforcement official said Friday.
Four other men apprehended in the operation also were being held by authorities in New York City, according to the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Public television in the Cape Verde Islands reported that Rear Adm. Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto and four other Guinea-Bissau nationals were taken into custody aboard a yacht in international waters in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. It said authorities took the five into nearby Cape Verde, a former Portuguese colony, and that Na Tchuto was flown from there to the United States.
