Santo Domingo.- The expulsion of 73 Antinarcotics (DNCD) agents, with ranks as high as colonel, reveals the deep penetration of Colombian and Venezuelan drug trafficking networks, from where they seek to outwit Dominican Republic’s authorities, and convert the country into a distribution hub.
Nonetheless the rings have had to smuggle the large shipments of cocaine by sea after the Super Tucano intercept planes aircraft and more recently the drones shuttered the air routes.
The shift has allowed the authorities to seize more than 6,800 kilos of cocaine so far this year, from major trafficking networks that aim to use the country as a bridge to Europe and the United States.
The current routed starts with a plane laden with pure cocaine that takes off from Colombia and lands in a Venezuelan jungle, and from there by sea to Dominican Republic’s Caribbean coast.
But the traffickers have been helped by at least 73 Police and military officers thus far identified as protectors of the shipments and fired by the authorities as "high treason,” and some indictments.
The DNCD has also seized a total of US$977,453 and RD$4.4 million in cash from the rings that ship drugs through Curaçao’s coast and then use local ports, especially Caucedo, to sent it to Europe and the U.S.
Expulsions
Among the most recent cases of the 73 agents expelled figure Police Colonel Edwin Calderon Castillo and Lt. Colonel Jose Antonio Polanco Rodríguez, charged with conspiracy to protect drug trafficking networks.