Officials in South America say a Nova Scotia man accused of murder was allegedly one of the kingpins of a Colombian drug cartel before he was arrested on a Venezuelan beach and extradited back to Canada.
The Office of the Attorney General of Colombia says in a press release that Steven Douglas Skinner, a former MMA fighter from the Halifax area awaiting trial on second-degree murder, organized a drug trafficking network called Morfhox with Daniel “El Loco” Barrera.
READ MORE: Accused murderer Steven Skinner extradited to Canada
The attorney general says along with his accomplice – who he allegedly later killed before fleeing to neighbouring Venezuela – Skinner recruited drug mules to smuggle cocaine to Canada, the United States and Europe
The alleged narcos targeted seniors, mothers and Venezuelans to illegally transport drugs by swallowing latex capsules filled with liquid cocaine.
They allegedly purchased the drug mules passports, airline tickets and clothing as well as paid for expenses abroad, promising a bonus payment when they returned to Colombia.
Skinner was arrested by Venezuelan law enforcement on Margarita Island in 2016, and was extradited to Canada the following year to face second-degree murder charges in the 2011 death of Stacey Adams in Nova Scotia.