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Honduran anti-drug chief killed

2009-12-09 15:02 BJT

TEGUCIGALPA, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Honduras' anti-drug chief was shot dead on Tuesday by two gunmen aboard a motorcycle, police said.

A Police officer checks the scene where general Julian Aristides Gonzalez Irias was shot dead in the suburb of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Dec. 8, 2009. General Julian Aristides Gonzalez Irias, who led the national anti-drug agency, was shot dead on Tuesday by two gunmen aboard a motorcycle, police said. (Xinhua/Rafael Ochoa)
A Police officer checks the scene where general Julian Aristides 
Gonzalez Irias was shot dead in the suburb of Tegucigalpa, Honduras,
Dec. 8, 2009. General Julian Aristides Gonzalez Irias, who led the 
national anti-drug agency, was shot dead on Tuesday by two gunmen 
aboard a motorcycle, police said. (Xinhua/Rafael Ochoa)

General Julian Aristides Gonzalez Irias, who led the national anti-drug agency, was driving alone in Tegucigalpa after having dropped off his daughter at school when he was attacked, police said.

Gonzalez, who had usually been escorted by bodyguards, was alone at the time of the attack, said police spokesman Orlin Cerrato.

The spokesman said Gonzalez was preparing for his retirement in January when the new Honduran president is scheduled to take office. He had planned to move to Canada as he was facing death threats.

In 2009, Gonzalez's agency seized five tons of cocaine, most of them coming from Venezuela and Colombia.

Honduras is a key transit country for drugs coming from countries in the south.