Four foreign nationals convicted of trafficking 2.63 metric tonnes of cocaine in Guinea-Bissau have been transferred to the United States to face another trial there, the US Justice Department said on Friday.
Ramon Manriquez Castillo, a dual US and Mexican citizen; Mexican citizen Edgar Rodriguez Ruano; Fernando Javier Escobar Tito from Ecuador and Anderson Jair Gamboa Nieto from Colombia were charged with conspiring to distribute cocaine through Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, the Bahamas and Guinea-Bissau between November 2023 and September 2024, the statement said.
The four men were each sentenced in January in Guinea-Bissau to 17 years in prison following a record bust known as "Operation Landing". They were convicted alongside Brazilian Marlos Balcacar, who died at Simao Mendes Hospital in the capital Bissau on March 3, according to authorities in the West African country.
They appeared in court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Thursday, charged with distributing large quantities of cocaine while using a US registered airplane with an American citizen on board, the US Attorney's Office in the Southern District of Florida said.
No high-security prison
If convicted in the U.S., they could face from 10 years to life in federal prison, the statement said.
They were transferred on Wednesday to a US prison under a mutual agreement with the US, Guinea-Bissau's President Umaro Cissoko Embalo told reporters on Thursday.
The US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), which has met with Bissau-Guinean authorities several times since January, requested the transfer of the detainees for security reasons, a source in the Guinea-Bissau government told Reuters.

Sierra Leone has recalled its ambassador to Guinea after seven suitcases of suspected cocaine were recently found in an embassy vehicle.
"The reason for the transfer of the traffickers is that Guinea-Bissau does not have high-security prisons," Embalo said.
"Moreover, this transfer is proof that Guinea-Bissau is no longer a narco state."
No extradition treaty
Guinea-Bissau does not have an extradition treaty with the US, but Embalo said that even Bissau-Guinean nationals subject to international arrest warrants would be handed over to the US if requested.
In one of the country's largest drugs busts, Bissau-Guinean police in September seized 2.63 metric tonnes of cocaine on a Gulfstream IV aircraft that arrived from Venezuela at Bissau's main airport.
Agents confiscated 78 bales of drugs, the police said in a statement at the time.
Drug smugglers often use West African countries as a transit point to ship cocaine from South America to Europe.