Drug-smuggling assets to go on the block

Santo Domingo.- The Anti-Asset Laundering Committee chairman, Fidias Aristy, says that the assets confiscated from drug barons José David Figueroa Agosto and Quirino Ernesto Paulino Castillo, valued at more than RD$200 million, would be auctioned in the second week of December.

He said that the auction had been pencilled in for the 13th. The assets that will go under the hammer include two apartments in the upscale Alco Paradisso building in Santo Domingo and 10 luxury vehicles confiscated from Figueroa Agosto.

Three apartments and one house confiscated from Paulino Castillo will also be up for auction.

At the same time, Aristy commented that extraditions represented business for drug smugglers, as it ensures that after they have served their sentence overseas they can come back to the country to enjoy the assets they obtained from drug trafficking.

Aristy was speaking at an inter-institutional meeting of the anti-laundering network, where a report was presented on the actions the country plans to implement to fight drug trafficking.