Honduran ex-president's son jailed in US for cocaine trafficking

A son of former Honduran president Porfirio Lobo was sentenced to 24 years in an American prison on Tuesday for conspiring to smuggle cocaine and sell it in the United States.

The hefty punishment for Fabio Lobo was meant as a warning to corrupt members of Latin America's political elite, the New York City judge ruling over the trial, Lorna Schofield, said.

She said Lobo had used his connections and abused his position as the son of a former head of state to seek to profit through drug trafficking.

On top of his 24-year term, he would be subject to a five-year parole period, she said.

Fabio Lobo was arrested in Haiti in 2015 in a joint operation by US anti-narcotics agents and Haitian police.

His father, who served as president of Honduras between 2010 and 2014, did not defend his eldest son after his arrest, instead saying that Fabio Lobo had to answer the accusations against him.

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