U.S. extradition jet for Hondura's Hernandez due later on Thursday

A helicopter flies over the area where former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez has been in police custody since mid-February during a drill before his extradition this week to the United States, according to Honduran Security Minister Ruben Sabillon, at the Honduras National Police Special Forces base, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras April 20, 2022. REUTERS/Fredy Rodriguez

A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) plane due to be used for the extradition of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez is set to arrive in Honduras at 1 p.m. local time (1900 GMT), police in the country said on Thursday.

A top Honduran official had said previously that the plane was due to land at 7.00 a.m.

Hernandez, who was president from 2014-2022, has been accused in the United States of accepting millions of dollars in bribes in exchange for protecting alleged drug traffickers from investigation and prosecution.

He has denied the allegations.

(Reporting by Tomas Bravo; writing by Dave Graham, editing by Stephen Eisenhammer)