Nabbed: 3 colonels, 3 prosecutors in stolen drug case

Santo Domingo.- A Santo Domingo province judge on Tuesday issued a warrant for the arrest of 25 people, including three deputy prosecutors, three Police colonels, including former National Police Narcotics Div. (DICAN) director Carlos Fernández Valerio; three lieutenant colonels, two majors, a first lieutenant and two sergeants.

Court of Appeal Special Instruction Judge Wendy Martinez Mejia ruled pretrial detention for the group charged with stealing over 900 kilos of the drugs that had been seized in raids by DICAN agents.

The warrant was issued against deputy prosecutor Maxmo Antonio Diaz Ogando, Ramon Veras, Augusto Castro and Leonidas Suárez Martínez; former DICAN director Fernández Valerio, Colonels Mercedes Altagracia Mola Cuevas and Guillermo Baez Ubiera.

Also lieutenant colonels Felix Humberto López Paulino, Féliz Humberto López Paulino, Voltaire Batista Matos, Juan Bulus Andújar y Francisco Valenzuela Valenzuela. Also majors Luciano Gómez Cabrera and Junio Vásquez Bàez, 1st Lt. Bárbaro Torres Beltrán; majors Ruddy José Japa Alvarez and Alberto Jiménez Ruiz; captains Carlos Amézquita Reynoso and Edwin La Paix Zapata, and Lt. Juanico Belén Mejía.

Also, sergeants major Antolin de los Santos and Pedro Zabala Almánzar José González; Corp. Agapito Muñoz Evangelista, private Raidirys Lironey García Miranda and the civilian Santo Emilio Hernández.

Deputy Justice minister Bolivar Sanchez and Santo Domingo province Court of Appeal prosecutor Robert Rodriguez Mendoza had requested arrest warrants, noting that the investigation found that the defendants swiped the drug seized in a search on September 27, 2014, by Antonio Diaz Ogando, Veras and Castro and Leonidas Suárez Martínez, accompanied by police agents.

The warrant adds that the accused stole the seized drug, which exceeds 900 kilograms of cocaine as well as an unspecified amount of cash.