SANTO DOMINGO.-The logistics to mobilize the 9.8 tons of cocaine seized last week by the National Drug Control Directorate were rigorously designed by the drug trafficking network, which sent an empty container from Guatemala that would be filled with the shipment of cocaine that arrived in the Republic. Dominican from South America to transship it to Belgium, the main gateway for narcotics to Europe.
The Honduran authorities confirmed that the container identified with the serial number HLBU9354083 arrived empty at the Santo Tomás de Castilla port in Guatemala and was then transferred to Puerto Barrios, in that same country, where it was then loaded onto the Scorpius ship bound for the Punta Caucedo multimodal dock. , in the Dominican Republic.
The port of Santo Tomás de Castilla is an important commercial and container operations center, designed mainly for the handling of general cargo, containers and bulk, being one of the most modern in Guatemala.
It is about two kilometers from Puerto de Barrios, which makes them practically contiguous and you can get from one to the other in about 20 minutes. This last port is mainly used to ship bananas and other agricultural products.
The drugs that were being transported in Punta Caucedo were tried to be camouflaged between boxes of bananas.
The Directorate of the Honduran Merchant Navy confirms that during that journey the ship made a stopover in Puerto Cortés, but that the container in question was not unloaded.
The same authorities confirm that the container in question would be transshipped to the port terminal of Antwerp (Antwerp), Belgium.
It is precisely during this transshipment process that the structure of the network in the Dominican Republic was surprised while transferring the drugs to the container that had left Guatemala.
The Joint Information and Coordination Center (CICC) unit of the National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD) detected an unusual movement of people transshipping bags with brick-shaped paintings from a container to container HLBU9354083 that had been shipped in Guatemala .
The container from which the bags with the cocaine packages were being lowered was number FFAU454228, which had been taken on the same day of the seizure, Thursday, December 5, to the Caucedo port in a truck labeled with authorization to enter the port facility. , this being the first to be intervened by anti-narcotics agents.
The CICC unit was reinforced by the Operations Directorate, the Tactical Reaction Directorate (DRT), the Transnational Directorate Against Drug Trafficking (DTCN) and the DNCD Division in Boca Chica with the Public Ministry.
This as a security measure against the possibility that the gang responsible for the movement of that shipment in Dominican territory attempted violent action in an attempt to recover the illicit merchandise.
In the first container, the one that had been taken to the port in a truck, 200 bales were found containing a total of 5,989 packages of cocaine packed in the shape of a brick weighing approximately one kilo each.
Subsequently, the agents proceeded to inspect the second container, to which the transfer was being made, detecting 108 bales with similar characteristics as the previous ones.
There, 3,598 packages of cocaine were seized, so the general total seized that morning by the DNCD amounted to 9,587 packages, the largest blow to drug trafficking in the history of the country and one of the largest in the world.
Expanded investigation
The investigation has had to expand its range of international action, since the transshipment of the cocaine was being carried out in a Dominican dock, which implies the existence of a powerful structure responsible for that mission.
The container into which the transshipment was being made came from Guatemala, according to the customs VTL (Transit and Logistics Verification), and it was estimated that its use as transshipment was planned from its shipment, since those who would receive it in Belgium had to know where the drugs would arrive. .
It also implies the existence of a structure in Belgium that would receive the cocaine to move it to the European market.
Likewise, the investigations have had to be expanded to other countries since the ship on which the refrigerated container in which the drugs would be taken to Belgium came has frequent activities in docks in the Mexican Pacific, where there is a high incidence of cartels. most powerful Aztecs; while it is certain that the drug was produced in Colombia, bringing the number of countries where investigations are ongoing to five.
Seizures
42 Tons.
The amount of drugs seized so far in 2024 almost doubles the previous record set in 2022.
