Dominican agents raid posh properties in 950 K drug bust

Santo Domingo. – The National Drugs Control Agency (DNCD) has conducted at least 10 raids with Deputy DAs on Monday, seeking members of a ring still on the loose since Saturday night when it smuggled 928 packages of cocaine along the country’s south coast.

It said the detainees held thus far will be sent to the DAs Office Monday afternoon when they’ll be charged, including Julio Cesar Herrera, Marcelino Cuevas Feliz, Melvin Perez and Ramon Villar, while the brothers alleged ringleaders Otto Luis and Sail Luis Ducasse Herrera are still on the loose. Injured I the chase and detained in a unspecified clinic was José Luis Garcia Ortiz.

The DNCD identified the other suspects as Cesar Peralta, Pedro Mota and a third man known only as "La Araña” (The Spider). Peralta has been arrested on other occasions and prosecuted in several drug trafficking cases.

In a statement, the DNCD said its team conducted several raids today in an unspecified upscale sector of the capital, and in the resort town of Boca Chica, searching luxury properties allegedly used by the Ducasse brothers and their group, especially Peralta and Mota, to store the drugs and money from their activities.

It adds that the 928 packages were taken to the Forensics Institute for analysis and determine its final weight, which the DNCD estimated at 950 kilos.