Four alleged traffickers, including airline owner, get 6 months in prison to await trial

Santo Domingo. – A National District Permanent Attention judge sent four men to spend six months at Najayo prison to await trial, in the case involving alleged international drug traffickers and money launderers.

Judge Jose Alejandro Vargas handed down the rulings against Sergio René Gómez Díaz, Cristian Antonio Javier Suarez, Home Errol Outram and Rafael Rosado, charged with laundering money from drug trafficking and other crimes.

The judge ruled for the prosecution on its evidence, such as taped telephone conversations, photos of meetings between the accused, and testimony by agents, among others.

Investigators say Gomez Diaz, owner of several businesses including bars, "Passion Night Club" and the mall "Plaza Gómez Díaz," planned the transport of 500 kilos of cocaine from South America in his twin engine plane.

The National Drugs Control Agency (DNCD) said it confirmed Gomez Diaz’s close ties with drug traffickers, Dominicans and Colombians and Europeans.

The DNCD said co-defendant Rosado, owner of the airline CaribAir, had sold a CESNNA 310 aircraft to Gomez Diaz, whom he met several times, as the prosecution’s photos show.