French plane crew nabbed in record bust of 35 agents(Update2)

Santo Domingo.- The National Drugs Control Agency (DNCD) disclosed the names of the Dominicans and the foreigners arrested in connection with a shipment of cocaine headed to the airport of Versailles, France, with a scheduled stop at the Azores Islands.

Among the 35 arrested figure three crew members and a fourth passenger of a modern 1989Falcon 50 aircraft, registry F-GXMC.

The foreigners, all French nationals, were identified as Jean Pascal Furet, Bruno Armand Victor Ados, Alain Marc Paul Marie Castaign, and Nicolas Christopher Pisapia.

In additio to Brazobán, among those to be charged figure captains Bolívar Alberto Mercado Díaz, Santana Núñez, José Manuel Celedonio Castro, Wascar Francisco Zapata Ramírez and Rafael Aníbal de la Rosa Tapia; lieutenants Joan Antonio Daniel Rosario, Andrés Avelino Méndez García Arencio Guevara, Miguel Damián Florimón, Kissoris Ciprian and Carlos H. Martínez.

According to the investigation, those who will also be charge are the sergeants Rolando Colime Rojas; Welcome Pérez Mesa, Juan Santana and Andris out Ozuna Nova.

The civilian agents involved in the case are Manauris Encarnación Sánchez, Cristian Miguel Sánchez Sosa, Danny Daniel Balbuena Bejarán, Michell Camilo Bachá Mateo, Irvin Arias Santana and Jorge Mañón Pérez.

Also Orlando Francisco Franco Noble and Brayan Valerio Santos. Other arrests are still pending, according to the DNCD.

FILE. The authorities are holding around 35 officers and agents -the highest number in one bust ever- from various government agencies allegedly linked to an international during trafficking network, who had shipped cocaine from Punta Cana Airport to various European countries during several years.

Antinarcotics (DNCD) chief Rolando Rosado didn’t reveal the names of those arrested, among them a lieutenant colonel assigned to his agency, but pledged to publish their names and charge them in the next few hours.

He said evidence of more than RD$2.5 million in bribes and an unspecified amount of dollars were collected during seven months, received by the head of the DNCD unit assigned to the airport and the other agents. He said the agents distributed money among different departments lf the DNCD in the capital.

In a press conference Rosado provided the details of the operation which led to the dismantling of the network, accompanied by Air Force Intelligence officials and DNCD Joint Operations chief Valentin Rosado, who led months-long investigation.

Rosado said since 2010 various European countries among them France, Holland, and Belgium had alerted the DNCD of large drug seizures aboard planes arriving from Punta Cana’s airport, raising suspicions of a structure which managed to ship the drugs from that terminal.

He said the information prompted the deployment of undercover agents to infiltrate the Customs, Airport Security (CESA) and DNCD offices charged with the terminal’s safety and security.

A French aircraft was seized yesterday and its French crew of four detained, together with 35 members of various government agencies involved in the confiscation of at least 670 kilos of cocaine at Punta Cana Airport.

UPDATE

Valentin Rosado reiterated that Customs inspectors are among the detainees, and that Army captain Bolivar Alberto Mercado Diaz and Air Force Lt. colonel Jose Brazoban headed the ring.