Dominican drug traffickers with U.S., Canada links get 30 years in jail

Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.- Two men charged with forming part of an international drug trafficking ring, which had been tracked since 2011, were sentenced to 30 years in prison on Thursday.

"The convicts are Miguel Manuel Nicasio Quezada, alias Cristian, and Miguel Ramón Herrera Tapia, who partnered to form a powerful international drug trafficking ring that recruited people to work as so-called ‘mules,’ to send cocaine to Canada and Europe," the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) said in a statement.

It said Puerto Plata’s Office of the Prosecutor showed proof that drug trafficking network, including a Canadian and Dominicans to open new drug trafficking routes to Europe from the Dominican Republic, using the country’s various airports where they managed to form contacts.

"Those sentenced to 30 years in prison today were arrested after a person was caught with 10 kilos of cocaine in Toronto, Canada, and a phone number was found in their belongings handwritten with the name of Cristian Nicasio," the statement said.