The National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD) has not yet reported the exact weight or type of narcotic seized early Sunday morning on the coast of Baní and that it only said that day that it weighed more than two tons and “presumably it is cocaine” seized in a joint operation.
During a press conference at its headquarters yesterday, it offered few details other than those published this Monday in the media.
Among the news, he indicated that they were 2,049 packages and that the shipment was seized after 15 hours of pursuit by its agents, those of the Navy and Air Force, the Public Ministry and the support of the United States Southern Command.
The substance was presented at the activity, in which the organization defined the operation as another forceful and decisive blow to the structures of international drug trafficking.
He explained that the operational teams, supported by allied forces, developed a broad and rigorous surveillance device and intense air, sea and land pursuit, which allowed them to intercept a “Go Fast” type vessel, in a suspicious attitude, with a group of individuals on board. Six were arrested, according to their report on Sunday.
He indicated that after uninterrupted monitoring, the units neutralized the vessel, around 30 feet in length, nautical miles south of the municipality’s coast.
He stated that they occupied 69 bales containing the 2,049 packages, wrapped in plastic covers and marked with different logos.
According to the first reports, the boat, equipped with two outboard motors of 150 horsepower each, without a name or license plate, would have arrived on the Dominican coast from South America, a modality used by criminal networks to try to introduce large caches of drugs into the territory.
“It is the largest shipment confiscated inside a boat by sea, which demonstrates once again the firm commitment of the Government of the Dominican Republic, in the frontal fight against drug trafficking and transnational organized crime,” indicates the press document.
During the operation, the agency states, six Dominican citizens were arrested, who will be brought to justice in the next few hours, for violation of the Law 50-88, on Drugs and Controlled Substances.
The DNCD assured that with the support of the Armed Forces, the Attorney General’s Office, State intelligence agencies and international cooperation, it continues to strengthen its operational capacity and that it has managed to confiscate more than 3.2 tons of narcotic substances so far this year, “which reaffirms the leadership of the Dominican authorities in the regional combat against illicit drug trafficking.”
