D.R. arrests Haitian wanted for killing French diplomat

Santo Domingo, Sep 9 (EFE).- A Haitian wanted for killing a French diplomat has been arrested in the Dominican Republic, the DNCD drug enforcement agency said Wednesday.

Amaral Duclona, one of the most-wanted men in Haiti, is the subject of a French extradition request.

The 31-year-old Duclona, suspected of being the leader of a Port-au-Prince gang, was arrested Tuesday night by DNCD agents as he was leaving a residential complex in the eastern city of La Romana.

The suspect, who was living under the name Julicoeur Berthone in the Dominican Republic, was involved in a series of crimes in his homeland, some of them targeting the United Nations Mission for the Stabilization of Haiti, or Minustah, the DNCD said.

Duclona's gang, according to the DNCD, operates in Cite Soleil, the Haitian capital's biggest and most violent slum.

France has requested Duclona's extradition for the kidnapping and killing of its honorary consul in the northern city of Cap Haitien.

The Dominican Republic's Supreme Court ordered Duclona's arrest in response to an extradition request filed by France.

The suspect is being held at DNCD headquarters in Santo Domingo.

Duclona and Blade Nasso, who was captured several years ago by Minustah troops, were the two most-feared gang leaders in Haiti, the DNCD said.

The fugitive, who has been linked to erstwhile President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Lavalas party, had been hiding out in the Dominican Republic, where authorities are trying to determine how he entered the country.

Duclona's gang operated in Port-au-Prince's Belecou neighborhood, where he allegedly killed a Canadian police officer assigned to Minustah.

Dominican authorities were tipped off that Duclona had entered the country on an undetermined date and began looking for him, the DNCD said. EFE