DEA agent gunned down in Honduras, suspects caught

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (Reuters) – Honduran police said on
Saturday a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent was shot
to death as he visited a local religious shrine and that they
arrested two young gang members in the killing.

Two assailants shot the vacationing DEA agent in both legs
on Friday near the Virgen de Suyapa shrine in the capital,
Tegucigalpa, police said.

The victim bled to death from gunshot wounds in what
authorities said was probably an attempted robbery.

Police said they arrested two minors, both of them gang
members, on Saturday in connection with the killing.

“They are presumably who shot the agent,” Security Minister
Oscar Alvarez told reporters.

Security Ministry spokesman Leonel Sauceda said the DEA
agent was in Honduras on vacation and denied local media
reports he was in the country to help train anti-narcotics
forces.

Experts say close to 100 tons of cocaine pass through
Honduras on the way to the U.S. market every year.

Honduras and other Central American countries are plagued
by violent youth gangs.