Local, U.S. agents nab “large cache” of Puerto Rico-bound cocaine

Santo Domingo.- The National Drugs Control Agency (DNCD) and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on Wednesday seized 25 packages of cocaine," a large cache headed to Puerto Rico by boat manned by four men who were captured," but ??managed to dump nearly all of the drug packed in plastic bags into the sea.

The DNCD said the operation occurred near Miches, El Seibo province, where Rafael Romero Romero (Faelo), Jose Antonio Villa Mercedes, Emilio Manuel Romero Zorrilla and José Mercedes Amparo, all with rap sheets.

It said the men were intercepted aboard the boat near Punta Esmeralda, bound for Puerto Rico, and form part of ring which traffics drugs to the neighboring island.

The DNCD said helped by the DEA, it was investigating the group’s links with Puerto Rico, where the bags filled with cocaine were headed, but upon noting the speedboat and helicopter pursuit, threw most of the drug overboard.

"When these people realized they were being pursued, they tried to get rid of the drug, as in fact they did tossing much of it into the sea, now the DNCD and the Navy aim to recover it from the seafloor."