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A convicted drug trafficker who vanished while on leave from a Canadian prison over 23 years ago has been returned by American Authorities.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement explained in a statement that removal officers sent 56-year-old fugitive Laveaux Francois, a Haitian national with Canadian citizenship, back to Canada on December 4th.
Francois had served four years of his sentence before he disappeared while on a furlough in 1995. He had been convicted in Florida for conspiracy to import cocaine to the U.S. and was sentenced to 15 years after being arrested while trying to unload a large quantity of cocaine from a boat in Miami in 1990.
Francois was transferred to Canada in 1994. After eight months in jail, Correctional Services Canada granted him a furlough, and he never returned, fleeing to Haiti instead.
The U.S. authorities added that Francois continued to smuggle cocaine into America before being arrested in Haiti by Drug Enforcement Administration agents in 2007. Francois was extradited back to the U.S., where he was convicted of conspiracy, importation, and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. He was sentenced to 33 years behind bars.
Last October, his sentence was reduced to 13 years and he was released from a Pennsylvania prison. He was promptly arrested in Philadelphia and ordered removed from the country. At that time, authorities noted an outstanding warrant in Canada.
The agency that oversees Canada’s prisons confirmed Friday that Francois is back in its custody.
With files from the Canadian Press.
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