A mayor in Honduras was arrested yesterday Sunday as he is accused of collaborating with a drug cartel in order to traffic 90 tons of cocaine to the US by ship and aircraft, prosecutors announced.

Wilmer Manolo Wood, the mayor of Vruce Laguna, in the remote Mosquitia region that borders Nicaragua, was taken into custody, said Jorge Galindo, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office. He allegedly worked with three cartels, the Los Piningos, Los Yanyes and Los Amador gangs.

According to Mr. Galido, in addition to cooperating with the cartels, the elected official had allegedly personally received 30 tons of cocaine and was moving the quantities within the country in order to be transported to the United States.

Prosecutors believe the mayor has been involved in trafficking for more than 15 years and began acting on his behalf eight years ago.

According to the prosecution, Mr. Wood facilitated the docking of 15 Colombian sailors who passed through Honduras on their way to the United States.

His arrest in La Ceiva, in northern Honduras, was announced amid a series of raids and searches along the Central American country’s Atlantic coast.

Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was arrested and extradited to the US in February 2022 as US authorities accuse him of drug trafficking. His brother ‘Tony’, a former congressman, was sentenced to life in prison by a US court that found him guilty of the same offence.

His successor, President Xiomara Castro, has repeatedly imposed a state of emergency in parts of the country to deal with gang activity.