The former president of Honduras is arrested at the request of the US

The Honduran police have arrested former president Juan Orlando Hernandez, after the request of the United States for his extradition, writes Al Jazeera.

Hernandez was arrested after three weeks, after abandoning the function of the president after more than a year of accusations by the American court, for his connections with the drug trade, Telegrafi reports.

The Honduran court has issued an arrest warrant for Hernandez (2014-2022), whose extradition the US sought on drug-trafficking charges, the Honduran court spokesman announced.

The court is the one to decide whether to issue an arrest warrant, and the competent authorities have been ordered to do so, the spokesman said during a press conference.

About 600 police officers surrounded Hernandez's home when the US submitted its extradition request to Honduran authorities.

After more than a year of speculation, the United States has officially requested the arrest and extradition of Hernandez, who three weeks ago left the position he held - that is, the president.

He left the house surrounded by police in handcuffs and wearing a bulletproof vest. He got into the police car and went to the police station. And a police helicopter stood by, apparently escorting the convoy.

Security Minister Ramon Sabian, whom Hernandez fired as national police chief in 2014, said Hernandez had agreed to "traffick with drug cartels and corrupt many public institutions, which went as far as a deterioration of the social situation and collapse of the justice system".

He added that the charges against Hernandez from the US are drug trafficking, use of weapons during drug trafficking.

American judges in New York have several times accused Hernandez of being an accomplice during his brother's 2019 drug-trafficking trial - noting that he reached the height of his political career by profiting from drug sales. /Telegraph/