SANTO DOMINGO – Dozens of drug traffickers and gang members were arrested in a large police operation in the Dominican Republic, officials said.
The operation was launched on Saturday in the wake of a U.S. report that listed the Dominican Republic as a transit country in the international drug trade.
Agents seized cocaine, “crack” cocaine, marijuana, firearms and vehicles during raids staged in several cities, the DNCD drug enforcement agency said.
Jonathan Mejia Jaquez, a Dominican wanted by U.S. authorities for distributing cocaine in New York, was among the suspects arrested.
The 32-year-old Mejia Jaquez was arrested in Los Prados, a neighborhood in the western section of Santo Domingo.
Dominican drug enforcement officials on Friday defended their performance in the war on drugs following the release of a White House report that listed the Caribbean nation as one of 20 countries considered important drug-producing or transit countries.
source: Latin American Herald Tribune |