Operation Leopard launched against drug trafficking; 643 packages of suspected cocaine seized

The Public Prosecutor’s Office launched Operation Leopardo. It arrested four people as a result of intelligence, surveillance, and monitoring activities that led the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD) to seize a shipment of 643 packages of a substance presumed to be cocaine in the province of La Altagracia.

The operation, led by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing, and the La Altagracia Prosecutor’s Office, has the international cooperation of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Among those arrested are Daniela Amancio Olavarría, Rafael Torres Díaz, Wilson Rafael Inirio, and Néstor Julio Rodríguez, who are implicated in drug trafficking and money laundering and will be brought to justice in the coming hours to hear coercive measures at the Judicial Office of Permanent Services in La Altagracia.
Moisés Severino Inirio, José Ignacio de Jesús Mota, and Pedro Luis Cordero Espinal, who are currently fugitives, are also linked to the case.

The drugs were seized on El Carmen Street at the corner of Libertad Avenue in San Rafael del Yuma, La Altagracia province.

A total of 27 prosecutors are participating in the actions alongside 194 DNCD agents. The authorities carried out 17 raids in the National District, Santo Domingo Este, Guerra, Boca Chica, Barahona, Santiago, Higüey, Cap Cana, and Romana.

Deputy Attorney General Wilson Camacho, head of the General Directorate of Prosecution, explained that the operation is part of Attorney General Yeni Berenice Reynoso’s unwavering decision to continue fighting drug trafficking and organized crime without respite.

Meanwhile, DNCD President Vice Admiral José Manuel Cabrera Ulloa reiterated his commitment to continue fighting drug trafficking and organized crime “without respite or concessions.”

“The seizure of the cache is a significant blow to drug trafficking networks and transnational organized crime and is further proof that the Dominican Republic’s security forces continue to improve their strength and integration in the fight against structures dedicated to drug trafficking, money laundering, and other crimes,” said Cabrera Ulloa.
Authorities seized five properties, a recreational boat, an AR-15 rifle, two 12-gauge shotguns, two revolvers, two pistols, six motorcycles, and six vehicles. They also seized RD$1,769,400 and US$159,698.

The cache seized in San Rafael del Yuma is linked to another 993 kilograms of cocaine seized in April on a boat anchored in a tourist port in the province of La Altagracia, which, in turn, was related to a robust criminal drug trafficking structure headed by Serbian Nikola Boros and/or Antun Mrdeza, wanted by Interpol for belonging to a transnational criminal organization dedicated to cocaine trafficking between the United States, Puerto Rico, Spain, and Italy.