Ovenel Moïse was killed in an attack on his private home in July last year.

Photo: Andrés Martínez Casares / Reuters

An alleged member of the group involved in the assassination last year of Haiti's president, Jovenel Moïse, has been detained while transiting Panama

after his release by a Jamaican court.

Mario Antonio Palacios, 43, a former member of the Colombian army, is accused by the Haitian authorities of being part of a mercenary group that tortured and killed Moïse and wounded his wife, Martine, during an attack on Moïse's private home in July.

Palacios has admitted in a media interview to being in Moïse's room during the assault in which the president was killed

, but has denied being involved in the assassination.

Palacios entered Jamaica illegally and was detained in prison after his arrest in October, while the courts considered an extradition request from Haiti.

Jamaica ordered his deportation to Colombia, but while transiting to his home country through Panama he was intercepted at the airport and

is believed to have been put on a flight to the United States, which, like Haiti, has issued a red notice. Interpol requesting his arrest.

Panamanian authorities have not issued any public comment on the matter, but a person familiar with the matter in Panama confirmed that Palacios had been detained.

A video shared with

Reuters

by the source, who declined to be named, showed two immigration agents escorting a man, whose face was not shown, through what appeared to be the Panama airport.

The Colombian television channel

Noticias RCN

also reported the arrest.

An official source quoted by the Colombian news site

El Tiempo

said: It seems very certain that Palacios will be sent to the United States because the [legal] process there was urgently pushed and they have a plane ready for him.

According to some reports,

Palacios was being taken to Miami.

Palacios' arrest in Panama marks the latest twist in the Moses murder investigation saga, which remains largely mired in mystery.

Jamaican authorities ruled that Palacios' extradition request for Haiti did not meet his legal requirements.

This request, as a matter of law, could not proceed, could not be processed and was destined to fail, said Paula Llewellyn, Jamaica's director of public prosecutions (DPP), on Friday.

Palacios had

reportedly

not been named a suspect in the murder, but was instead being wanted on an armed robbery charge.

Over the weekend it appeared that the Colombian would be allowed to travel home after being photographed shaking hands with the Colombian ambassador to Jamaica, Jairo Clopatofsky Ghisays.

Palacios is

believed to

be the last of the alleged group of mercenaries to be detained.

In an interview while he was still in hiding, he insisted that he had no knowledge of who killed Moïse.

I don't know who killed him.

I say this from my heart for my family, for my children, he told La

Semana

, although he admitted that he had entered Moïse's house.

According to a report prepared by the Haitian police and leaked to various media outlets, Palacios, also known by his nickname Floro, is

accused of being one of the instigators of Moïse's assassination on July 7.

He is accused of being one of 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans who formed a hitting squad that broke into the president's private residence in the middle of the night claiming to be part of a US Drug Enforcement Administration operation.

Moïse was shot a dozen times and also appeared to have had one eye gouged out during the assault.

None of the surviving Colombians captured in Haiti have been brought to trial, and

the motivation behind the murder remains unclear amid conflicting claims.

On Saturday, gunmen tried to kill Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry during an event to mark the anniversary of the country's independence, authorities say.

The incident occurred at a church in the northern city of Gonaïves.

Video posted online showed the prime minister and his entourage scrambling toward their cars amid intense gunfire.

(Taken from The Guardian)