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John Viáfara is sentenced to 11 years in prison for drug trafficking
After 2 years of being arrested, under drug trafficking charges, former football player Jhon Viáfara was sentenced to serve 11 years in prison.
A Texas state court, which tried the former member of the Colombian national football team, sentenced the 42-year-old player to an exact sentence of 11 years and three months for related crimes. with drug trafficking.
This was revealed by media outlets such as the newspaper El Espectador, where he said that on Friday the court handed down the sentence against Viáfara, who at the beginning of his arrest defended his innocence.
Weekly magazine claimed that John Viáfara, who was extradited to the United States on January 24 last year, pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges for sending cocaine to that country.
The quoted media stated that the court determined that the former football player was in charge of coordinating the drug delivery routes. They have also stated that John Viáfara was the one who made the payroll payments to those who used the boats to transport the drug and to those who packed their bags.
The newspaper El Temps quoted the prosecutor who took the case, who lamented the way the former footballer went from being a world-famous figure to falling into the drug service.
“He had it all: world fame, wealth and professionalism; despite all this he chose to use his talent to promote the evil of drug trafficking,” said prosecutor Nicholas Ganjei, according to the media.
Following the capture of Viáfara in March 2019, Colombian authorities explained that US courts accused the player of being part of a drug trafficking network to which more than 2,500 kilos of coca were confiscated.
Before being sent from Colombia to the United States in January 2020, Viáfara mentioned that he was the one who asked to move his extradition.
“The only thing I regret is not having put God ahead of my plans and projects,” said the former footballer in the newspaper La Patria, where he reiterated his innocence.
“When you get here, you’re not used to that voltage. The first thing I asked the lawyers to do was to expedite everything for me to go as soon as possible to solve the problem. Here in Colombia I have no problems, so I asked for this, speed up, “the footballer said at the time.
The Daily Mail noted that the “former Saints and Pompey star conspired with members of the Golf Cartel to send shipments of cocaine from Colombia on speedboats to Mexico” and noted that the prosecutor in the case, Nicholas Ganjei made a warning to traffickers or those who plan to get involved in the illicit drug business.
“Traffickers have to take note, no matter who you are; no matter where in the world you live; the United States will prosecute you if you join a conspiracy to send drugs to our country,” he said. ‘accusing us, in closing his comments on Viáfara, who in his successful football career juice 10 teams, including Portsmouth, Southampton, Eleven Caldas and Pastura.
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