Thirteen days after the president Luis Abinader would inform that the National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), of the United States, would issue a report on the seizure of 9.8 tons of cocaine in the Caucedo multimodal port, the country is waiting.
Nor are any details known about the investigation that was supposedly carried out by the Public Ministry, which has only been limited to third-category employees of the multimodal port.
Nothing is known regarding the report and what has happened to those investigated in the case. The president spoke about the preparation of the report after leading a meeting at the National Palace with a Guatemalan commission on the fight against corruption, on December 13.
President Abinader announced the preparation of the report after his Guatemalan counterpart, Bernardo Arévalo, stated that the tons of drugs were loaded in the Dominican Republic and that the Dominican authorities have admitted this.
Arévalo assured that the container that left that country and was seized with cocaine last Friday in the Caucedo Multimodal Portwas “contaminated” with the drug in the Dominican Republic.
The 9.8 tons of the illicit substance were detected in two 40-foot containers, one loaded with bananas, coming from Guatemala and the other, in one without cargo, next to the one that had the fruit.
“It was clear that the contamination took place in the Dominican Republic and that security struggles here remain firm in the fight against drug trafficking,” the Guatemalan president said at that time.
Guatemala considered “closed” the case of the drug seizure in Caucedo.
To date, when the year 2024 is about to end, the Dominican authorities have not reported whether they have evidence that the container was loaded on this Caribbean soil.
Sources linked to the investigation have indicated that several meetings were held, the port’s video surveillance cameras were scanned, to try to find those responsible for the drugs that were destined for Belgium, but nothing has been reported in this regard.
You can read: DR authorities maintain investigation into shipment of 9.8 tons of cocaine
Detained
At least 15 people were investigated who would be asked to request a coercive measure against those involved in this shipment valued at approximately 250 million dollars.
The packages were sent, under chain of custody, to the National Institute of Forensic Sciences, to determine the weight and exact type of the shipment, which were subsequently incinerated by the Attorney General’s Office.
This is the largest seizure in the country, far exceeding the 2.5 tons of drugs that were seized in Puerto Caucedo in 2006 and which until now was the largest cache.
You can read: They ask to explain the stash of 9.8 tons of cocaine
The DNCD, when presenting the packages that were seized to the press, said that the drugs have an estimated value of about 250 million dollars and explained that, apparently, the shipment that arrived in Puerto Caucedo (in Boca Chica, province of Santo Domingo ) came from Guatemala and was going to be shipped to Belgium.
Record seizure
In the operation, members of the anti-drug agency – supported by the Customs Directorate, intelligence agencies and the Military Security of Puerto Multimodal Caucedo and coordinated by the Public Ministry – found in two containers 320 bags with 9,588 kilos of a substance that is supposedly cocaine.
In that port, after receiving intelligence reports, a profiling and inspection operation began on dozens of containers in transit through the Dominican Republic.
