Moscow criticizes extradition of Russian pilot from Liberia to US on cocaine smuggling charges

Moscow criticizes extradition of pilot to US

MOSCOW — Russia has criticized the arrest of a Russian pilot in Liberia by U.S. intelligence agents for alleged smuggling of South American cocaine.

Konstantin Yaroshenko was arrested in Monrovia in late May and extradited to New York. He faces up to 10 years in jail if convicted of involvement in a criminal group that smuggled South American cocaine to the U.S. and Europe via Western Africa.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that Yaroshenko’s arrest and extradition amount to “kidnapping” and “open lawlessness.”

His attorney, Alexander Bozhenko, told RIA news agency that the way Yaroshenko was arrested violated the law and he was kept without water for two days before his extradition.

In recent years, drug cartels have used West Africa as a major transit point.