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Targeted by an international warrant, Germine Joly, head of the “400 Mawozo” gang, was extradited to the United States on Tuesday. He is being prosecuted by the American courts for “importing weapons of war” and “abduction for ransom of American citizens”.
The leader of one of Haiti’s most powerful gangs, Germine Joly, was extradited to the United States on Tuesday, May 3, the Haitian National Police announced. At the head of the “400 Mawozo” gang, the one nicknamed “Yonyon” was transported by the American Federal Police (FBI) to the city of Washington, which had issued an international warrant against him at the end of April .
Incarcerated since 2015 in the prison of Port-au-Prince, he is being prosecuted by the United States for “importing weapons of war” and “kidnapping for ransom of American citizens”, specifies the press release from the Haitian police.
The gang, which he continued to lead from his cell, had kidnapped a group of 17 people last fall made up of North American missionaries and their relatives, including five children.
Clashes between gangs
The territorial hold of the armed bands places Port-au-Prince in a state of siege. The northern suburbs of the capital, controlled for several years by the “400 Mawozo”, is highly strategic, because it constitutes the only road access to the north of the country as well as between the Haitian capital and the Dominican Republic. For 10 days, clashes between this armed gang and another gang have completely paralyzed this area.
Hundreds of families were forced to flee and at least 20 civilians were killed, according to the very partial assessment of the violence that the Haitian civil protection was able to establish last Thursday.
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Since June 2021, the authorities have already lost control of the only road access that connects Port-au-Prince to the southern half of the country because, over the space of two kilometers, the national road is completely under the control of armed bands.
With AFP
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