A little after 11:00 pm yesterday Thursday, the General Directorate of Prosecution of the Public Ministry filed, before the Permanent Attention Office of the National District, the request for a coercive measure against the defendants in the network of international drug traffickingl, linked to Colombian and Mexican criminal organizations, dismantled through the Operation NK Buffalo.
The court set the hearing for tomorrow, Saturday, September 21.
Members of the organization participated in the operation against the alleged criminal organization. Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) and the National Directorate of Drug Control (DNCD), with the support of the Ministry of Defense (through its three forces, Navy, Army and Air Force), State Intelligence Agencies, the United States Anti-Drug Agency (DEA) and the United States Southern Command.
According to reports, more than 400 personnel, maritime, air and land units, coordinated by 47 prosecutors, were deployed. Approximately two tons of cocaine were seized from the alleged members of the “powerful international drug trafficking network” in Dominican territory, and other large shipments of drugs were allegedly transported from South America (the Republic of Colombia and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela) to Puerto Rico, the United States and Europe via the Dominican Republic, through speedboats and fishing boats. Once the substances entered Dominican territory and Puerto Rican soil, the logistics were carried out to send them to the United States and Europe, where, on occasions, their value was tripled, generating exorbitant illicit profits for the members of the structure.
Authorities indicate that several months ago an investigative process began around this criminal network, also dedicated to contract killing, compulsory collection and money laundering, identifying as one of its leaders the accused of drug trafficking. Rafael Ynoa Santana (The Cojo, Pocho, El Don) and one of his partners, Isidoro Rotestan Class (The Men), both arrested during the operation.
During the course of the investigation, it was found that Ynoa Santana had ties to the Colombian Juan Carlos López Macías “El Sobrino”, who was the leader of an international drug trafficking organization, linked to Colombian and Mexican criminal organizations.
Alias el Sobrino was arrested on June 27, 2022, during Operation “Troy”, a simultaneous action in several cities in Colombia, which resulted in an important operational result that contributes to strengthening coexistence and citizen security in the region.
“After an extensive process of cooperation in international legal matters, this is the first time that common evidence provided by another country, in this case the Republic of Colombia at the request of the Dominican Republic, has been used in a collaborative process to strengthen the investigation and prosecution of an international drug trafficking organization in the Dominican Republic,” the press release states.
In the operation there are more than 10 people arrested with their orders to be presented for a coercive measure within the 48-hour period established by the Dominican Constitution. The operations are still active, the teams are processing the evidence and the seized goods.
The Dominican Republic continues to strengthen the ties of international cooperation, which has resulted in the dismantling of criminal structures, as well as the capture of important individuals linked to drug trafficking and transnational organized crime, which has allowed it to set a record for seizures and become a model for the region in terms of macro investigations.
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