Agents nab 16 of ‘Triad” ring shipped drugs to Eastern Europe

SANTO DOMINGO.- The National Drugs Control Agency (DNCD) on Monday announced it seized 175 packages of pure cocaine and arrested 16 people charged with forming part of a drug trafficking network which operated between South America, Dominican Republic and Eastern Europe, to where it allegedly smuggled large amounts of narcotics.

The cocaine was found in the Caribbean Sea on board a sailboat crewed by nationals from the Ukraine, Austrian, Serbian, Venezuela, Granada, San Martin and Martinique, after six-month long investigation of the DNCD and the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), revealed DNCD president Rolando Rosado.

“We’ve swepted up a narcotics trafficking network which took cocaine to East Europe using our country as a bridge. These arrests were possible because of the joint work by forces from several countries which set forth what we’ve denominated the `Maritime Barrier’ in the Caribbean zone,” he said, adding that agents from the Ukraine, Austria, Martinique and San Martin also took part.

Rosado the local arrests include the Ukrainians Iván Zanze and Urgakovic Zlatko, the Serb Nebojsa Gancanovic, as well as the Venezuelan Antonio Jose Parra, who allegedly received the cocaine prior to shipping it to Europe and were the Santo Domingo contacts of the dangerous `Triad’ network which operates in East Europe.

“That group of drug traffickers arrested in the country and those arrested on board the sailboat `Ichtys’ set up operations in the country to coordinate transactions, transport and transfer of Colombian cocaine, through Venezuela, to then ship to Europe,” Rosado said.