BRIEFS. prisons

Drug defendants ill

LA PRENSA

José Nelson Urrego997994

Defendants associated with suspected Colombian drug trafficker José Nelson Urrego seem to be plagued with health problems.

Mike Sierra, one of the co-defendants, was placed under house arrest because of health problems. Two other defendants in the case, Panamanian Rafael Jiménez and Colombian Enrique Vallejos, have also claimed to be too sick to stay in jail. Both men are being held in El Renacer prison, but are seeking house arrest.

Prosecutor José Abel Almengor said that both men have presented certificates to the court from the Instituto de Medicina Legal (Imel) attesting to the seriousness of their condition.

Marizol Plaza, another of the six arrested in this case, has requested a transfer to a hospital to be treated for a tumor in his chest. No decision has been made on that request.

Urrego was taken into custody last year on the private island he owned in Panama and charged with drug trafficking.