US charges nephews of Venezuela first lady over drugs

Two nephews of Venezuela's first lady made a fleeting appearance in a US court charged with conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the United States and were remanded into custody.

Their detention is likely to harm already fraught US-Venezuelan ties at a time when the South American oil giant is mired in economic crisis and faces legislative elections in less than a month.

Efrain Antonio Campo Flores and Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas appeared before Magistrate Judge James Cott at the federal court in Manhattan on last evening in a brief, five-minute hearing.

US prosecutors said the pair were arrested in Haiti on Tuesday and flown the same day by US agents to New York. The two defendants sat in silence, listening to proceedings through a translation headset.
 

They were both bearded with thick, cropped dark hair and wore casual-style button-down shirts.

They were charged with conspiracy to smuggle at least five kilos (11 pounds) of a controlled substance into the United States that the indictment said contained "a detectable amount of cocaine."

The alleged conspiracy to manufacture and distribute the substance began last month, US prosecutors said.

The duo also allegedly took part in meetings in Venezuela regarding a shipment of cocaine that was to be sent to the United States via Honduras, the indictment said.

The next court hearing is scheduled for November 18 at 3:00 pm (2000 GMT).