San Francisco de Macorís. – The Court of Appeal of San Francisco de Macorís ratified this Friday the preventive detention against defendants in the case Operation Arracife 2.0who are accused of integrating a network of traffic international of drugs, weapons and money laundering.
The decision was made against Ángel María Polanco, Ana María Peña Meléndez, Alanna Familia and Luis Arístidez Alcequiez, who filed an appeal seeking to vary the coercive measure.
We invite you to read: Court dictates one year of preventive detention to 4 people involved in Operation Arrecife 2.0
Those involved intended to benefit from a measure of coercion other than preventive detention.
In the case of Ana Victoria Duarte Trinidad, the court maintained the arrest of house arrest, so that they respond to the drug trafficking and money laundering process for which they are accused.
The court confirmed the preventive detention and house arrest against all the accused, after deliberating on the allegations and elements of evidence presented by the Public Ministry, which has presented a firm and forceful investigation into the established criminal offenses, related acts of money laundering, drug occupation and acquisition of illicit assets. .
It is recalled that the Specialized Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Prosecutor’s Office and the María Trinidad Sánchez Prosecutor’s Office presented the request for the imposition of a coercive measure against those six members of the criminal structure dismantled with Operation Arrecife 2.0, these being the alleged perpetrators. of international drug trafficking, arms trafficking and money laundering.
The members of this criminal structure were arrested in simultaneous raids on October 4, 2024, carried out in María Trinidad Sánchez, Samaná, Montecristi, in the province of Santo Domingo (in its Santo Domingo East and West municipalities) and the National District.
In the raids, in which the National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD) also participated, the Public Ministry seized more than 2 million pesos in cash, 11 high-end vehicles, among which the Toyota Hilux and 4Runner models stand out, Lexus, Mercedes Benz, among others, as well as six pistols and two shotguns, and various war ammunition, which add to the evidence against the criminal organization.
The alleged international drug trafficking structure, which carries out activities typical of organized crime, including money laundering, and which has been operating since 2015, has been hit hard by the Public Ministry, which has achieved convictions for several members.
For its decision, the court identified reasonable evidence, such as the acquisition of properties not justified by Ana María Peña, Alanna Familia and Ángel María Polanco, and the active participation of Ana Victoria Duarte Trinidad and Luis Arístides Alcequiez, in illegal transactions, also considered the risk of concealment of evidence, rejecting the appeal by unanimous vote.
The acting head of the Specialized Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prosecutor’s Office, Ramona Nova Cabrera, stated that this decision accepted by the court, to maintain preventive detention, is a confirmation of the solvency of the process and that it is a case with firm and binding evidence.
Nova Cabrera also reported that the investigating and litigating prosecutors in the process were Luis Alberto García, Pedro Medina and José Manuel Calzado.
