Santo Domingo.- Authorities seized a shipment of 201 packages presumably containing cocaine during inspections carried out in the municipality of Pepillo Salcedo (Manzanillo), province of Monte Cristi.
As part of the reinforcement of joint strategies to combat drug trafficking, the operation was carried out by agents of the National Directorate of Drug Control (DNCD) and members of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The acting units were profiling dozens of containers when they received an alert call from the security of the Plantaciones del Norte company, located near the Manzanillo Pier, warning of unusual movement of several people in the loading area.
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Subsequently, on the instructions of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, one of the containers, loaded with lemons, was seized, detecting 29 contaminated boxes, containing 201 packages of the substance inside.
Authorities have arrested one man in connection with the case, while a search is underway for others involved in the failed shipment of the cargo to the port of Rotterdam.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office and the DNCD have launched an investigation into the operations of this international drug trafficking network and expect to provide more details as the process progresses.
“Investigative agencies do not rule out that this case is related to other seizures, in which drug trafficking networks use loads of agricultural products to traffic drugs to the United States and Europe.”
The DNCD, with the support of the Central Government, the Armed Forces, the Attorney General’s Office, and State Intelligence agencies, has continued to strike drug trafficking structures, managing to confiscate 22,365 kilograms (22.3 tons) of various drugs this year, exceeding the seizure figures for 2023.
The detainee is in the custody of the Permanent Attention jurisdiction of the province of Montecristi for the corresponding purposes, while the packages of the substance were sent to the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (INACIF) in Santiago, to determine the type and exact weight of the shipment.
