Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.

The son of the former president of Honduras was arrested in Haiti and hauled back to the United States to face drug-trafficking charges Friday afternoon. Porfirio Lobo was in office while his son, Fabio, was allegedly conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the U.S.

"Being the son of a former public official, though, does not mean that you are above the law," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.

The Morning Rundown Get a head start on the morning's top stories. This site is protected by recaptcha

The federal indictment was short on details of the alleged drug scheme but said it operated between 2009 and 2014. Porforio Lobo was president of Honduras from 2010 to 2014.

In an interview with a Honduras TV station, the ex-president said he was hurt by the allegations against 43-year-old Fabio.

Honduras' President Porfirio Lobo Sosa addresses the 67th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, September 25, 2012. REUTERS/Mike Segar (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR38ENK Mike Segar / Reuters, file

"I cannot say that he is guilty; I cannot say that he is not," Lobo said. "Fabio is not a child. He is a man with a family and must answer for his actions."

Lobo faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

Drug-trafficking has been blamed for Honduras' murder rate — 90 per 100,000 people every year, by far the highest in the world, according to the United Nations.

IN-DEPTH