Gambiaj.com – (BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau) – The United States Embassy in Guinea-Bissau and Senegal has confirmed the extradition of four foreign nationals convicted of drug trafficking, who were handed over to U.S. authorities on Wednesday, April 16. The individuals, sentenced to 17 years in prison in Guinea-Bissau earlier this year, were flown out aboard a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) aircraft and have since appeared before a federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

In a statement, the U.S. Embassy revealed that the four defendants — Ramon Manriquez Castillo, 68, an American and Mexican citizen; Edgar Rodriguez Ruano, 29, a Mexican citizen; Fernando Javier Escobar Tito, 48, an Ecuadorian citizen; and Anderson Jair Gamboa Nieto, 30, a Colombian citizen — appeared before the Fort Lauderdale Federal Court on Friday, April 18, to face formal charges related to international drug trafficking.

The charges stem from a grand jury indictment, which accuses the men of conspiring to distribute large quantities of cocaine across several countries, including Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, the Bahamas, and Guinea-Bissau, between November 2023 and September 2024. The indictment also notes that the group used a U.S.-registered aircraft piloted by a U.S. citizen to traffic the drugs.

President Umaro Sissoco Embaló addressed the controversial rumors from the extradition of the four foreign nationals convicted of drug trafficking to the United States, arguing that Guinea-Bissau lacks high-security detention facilities.

“We want to show that Guinea-Bissau is no longer a narco-state,” he said. President Embaló also denied widespread rumors that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was in the country to arrest him.

The four were arrested in September 2024 in Bissau during a major anti-narcotics operation dubbed “Landing” after they were found aboard an aircraft carrying 2.6 tons of cocaine. The coordinated international bust was the result of close cooperation between the government of Guinea-Bissau, the country’s Judiciary Police (PJ), and multiple U.S. agencies, including the DEA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Justice, and the Office of International Affairs.

According to Radio Capital FM, the extradition operation involved a DEA team landing at Bissau’s Osvaldo Vieira International Airport under heavy security. The handover was reportedly witnessed by members of Guinea-Bissau’s Judicial Police and the Information and Security Service (SIS), with the aircraft heavily guarded by U.S. armed personnel.

One of the defense attorneys representing the extradited men told Radio Capital FM that he was unaware of the extradition process, claiming it had occurred without his prior knowledge or involvement.

The case originally involved five defendants. However, a fifth suspect, Brazilian national Marcos de Paula Balcaçar, who had also been sentenced to 17 years in the same case, died in March from health complications. His body remains in the morgue of Simão Mendes National Hospital in Bissau.

The Court of Appeal in Guinea-Bissau upheld the original verdict on April 8, confirming the 17-year sentences handed down by the Bissau Regional Court in January 2025.

The U.S. Embassy lauded the extradition as a result of “strong and continuous collaboration” with Guinea-Bissau’s authorities, characterizing it as a significant step in the fight against international narcotics trafficking.