US Offers $5m Bounty for Guinea-Bissau Coup Leader

Africa News

GUINEA-BISSAU

The United States announced Thursday it is offering a $5 million reward for the arrest of Guinea-Bissau's former coup leader Antonio Indjai, wanted for his alleged role in a drug deal linked to Colombian Farc guerrillas.

On April 13, 2012, General Antonio Indjai, then chief of staff in the politically unstable West African country, staged a coup, disrupting the electoral process two weeks before the presidential runoff.

U.S. prosecutors indicted him in 2013, accusing him of agreeing to stockpile tons of cocaine for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), the sale of which financed the purchase of weapons for the guerrillas and bribes to officials in Guinea-Bissau.

After the coup led by Antonio Indjai, a transitional authority was put in place until the May 2014 election of José Mario Vaz as president.

The $5 million will reward information leading to his arrest or conviction.