In mid-January, another defendant in the so-called Panthera 7 operation joined the list of those charged against the alleged network that, according to the Public Ministry, moved 9.8 tons of cocaine from Colombia, seized in the Caucedo port, in Bocha Chica, province Santo Domingo.
It is about Alexander Henriquez Castror, who worked as a van checker at said maritime terminal. His lawyer, the accused’s lawyer, Víctor Renato Castro, said during a recess in the hearing of the coercion request that they will demonstrate to the court the client’s minimal participation in the events of which they are accused.
The coercive measure was requested against José Nicolás Castillo Hart (a) “Nikito”; Winston Armando Tejera Rodríguez (a) “Barbikin”; Cristian Rayner Canela Aybar; Nelson Neftalí Mercedes Lugo; Dulvi Jesús De los Santos; Enriquillo Luis Brito and Enrique José Luis Brito, identified by the Public Ministry as members of an international drug trafficking and money laundering network dismantled in a joint operation with the National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD) and the Drug Control Administration of the United States (DEA).
The investigation
During the course of the investigation, evidence has been collected that demonstrates that the 9,587 packages weighing 9,889 kilos of cocaine were brought to the Dominican Republic from Colombia by sea, specifically, through Bayahibe, La Romana and Pedernales, in months prior to December 2024. In addition, the criminal organization captured several employees of the Multimodal Port of Caucedo, who contributed to the entry of the cargo to the terminal aboard container number FFAU4542281.
Likewise, that the criminal organization operates the container transport companies Grasswey Group SRL and GWG Transport, which they used for international drug trafficking. Although the investigation reveals a broader and more complex network of sponsors.
The investigation showed that, to guard the cargo, four men entered the port with assault weapons inside the empty container with the active complicity of employees of the aforementioned terminal who were associated with the criminal organization; as proven by the evidence collected in the investigation, some of which was delivered to the authorities by the Caucedo administration.
The National Drug Control Directorate had intelligence information indicating that an important shipment of cocaine was intended to be moved at the port, taking advantage of the large commercial flow in December, so, on instructions from its president, Vice Admiral José Manuel Cabrera Ulloa , larger personnel than usual and tactical units were deployed. Subsequently, the intelligence information was reinforced by an alert that the DNCD received from the Caucedo administration regarding unusual movements, so the operation to seize the controlled substance was carried out.
The authorities revealed that at 05:40 in the afternoon of 12-05-2024, container number FFAU4542281 was captured while it was being transferred aboard the Mack truck, model CXU613, blue, plate number L380563, label of the RNTT S503, traveling along Brisas de Caucedo street, heading North-South, and upon reaching the access control P-0 of the Caucedo multimodal Port, evades the verification of the X-ray machine, called “Presting”, and the inspection and verification, which shows the participation of the Inspector and the port sealer, who participated to allow the entry of the drug and the 4 armed men who were guarding the shipment.
At 06:05 in the afternoon on 05-12-2024, the container FFAU4542281 is captured while it was being transferred aboard the Mack truck, model CXU613, blue, license plate L380563, RNTT label S503, passing the control of access P-1 of the Caucedo Multimodal port, where it is declared as an empty return, and is identified, but it carried the more than 9.8 tons of cocaine that we have reported.
At 08:21 on the night of 12-05-2024, the container FFAU4542281 was found at floor level in the container yard of the Multimodal Caucedo port, specifically, in position C346041, in front of the refrigerated container HLBU9354083 with cargo of bananas, from Guatemala, which was in the process of being contaminated in the port with 3,598 packages of cocaine, while In container FFAU4542281, the amount of 5,989 packages of cocaine remained to be transferred to container FFAU4542281, so the total number of packages found in both containers, when added together, gives the amount of 9,587 packages that, when weighed, have a net amount of 9,889. kilograms.
The evidence shows that the operation that was carried out was to remove the packages of cocaine from the container FFAU4542281, which had entered Caucedo, to enter it into the container HLBU9354083, destined for Belgium, but the operation was interrupted by the actions of the DNCD and the Public Ministry, and that is the reason why both containers had packages at the time of the occupation.
To make room to enter the refrigerator container, as the container from Guatemala destined for Belgium is known, part of the load of bananas that it was carrying was removed.
The four armed men, with long weapons and hooded, kidnapped a truck driver, who was leaving a container. They tried to leave the terminal aboard the truck driven by the kidnapped man, but the DNCD, in coordination with port security, had ordered its closure, so the members of the organization who are known in that world as “Nailers”, seeing that they would not be able to leave due to the deployment of the agencies, escaped through a perimeter fence, just as This is evidenced by a video of the perimeter that is in the hands of the Public Ministry.
The Mack truck, model CXU613, blue, license plate L380563, RNTT sign S503, was purchased in Santiago de los Caballeros, in the name of a front man and member of the organization, but the evidence shows that the payment and procedures for Its acquisition made it one of the main operational axes of the criminal network. After the incident, the criminal organization hid the truck, but it was located and seized by the public ministry through the deployment of intelligence actions and a 360-degree analysis of the camera system.
The Mack truck, model CXU613, blue, license plate L380563, RNTT sign S503, used to enter the container loaded with drugs, had a GPS that the criminal organization had no knowledge of possessing, since said device had been been left by the company that had sold it. The aforementioned vehicle had not been transferred at the time the drugs entered the port, with the objective of the criminal organization to hide the real owner.
The GPS mapping, which when tracked corroborates, along with other evidence, that the main place where the container with the 9.8 tons of cocaine was loaded, which is located a few minutes from the port, is owned by one of the main accused, who is under arrest, the president of the GWG TRANSPORT company, who had not transferred the property, but the Public Ministry has in its possession the sales document and the evidence that proves that it is his property.
The researchers from the Dominican Republic, once they had collected the evidence that proves this, established the traceability of the shipment and then proceeded to share information about some of their findings in the countries to which the information may be of high interest.
All forensic examinations in the case have been carried out in strict accordance with the law and the procedures established in this regard, which have generally not changed from 2004 to date.
In the raids, digital evidence, vehicles, money, firearms, outboard motors, among others, documentary evidence that is currently being processed were seized.
