TEHRAN, Jul. 12 (MNA) – One of the alleged masterminds behind the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise has been arrested, Police Director Leon Charles said.

"The first person they called when the bandits' advance was blocked was Emmanuel Sanon," Charles told reporters on Sunday, as quoted by Acento, Sputnik reported.

According to police, Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a doctor from the US state of Florida, has been arrested. Two other people "implicated in the intellectual authorship of the murder," are being searched for, Charles said.

Sanon, who is of Haitian descent, has lived in South Florida for more than 20 years, and is now the third person tied to the Sunshine State to be arrested in connection with Moise's assassination, the Miami Herald reported. The other two suspects, known as James Solages and Joseph Vincent, reportedly told authorities that Moise's assassination was part of a plot to install the doctor as president of Haiti.

Investigators believe that Sanon was in contact with a Venezuelan security company based in the United States —  presumably, it organized the recruitment of the Colombians who are now being accused of killing Moise.

According to the Haitian police, a group of 26 Colombians and two Americans of Haitian descent are suspected of having carried out the assassination of President Moise in his home in Port-au-Prince in the early hours of Wednesday, July 7. The National Police said on Friday that 18 Colombian and two American suspects had been detained.

ZZ/PR