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Judge sends 32 persons implicated in seizure of 691 kgs of cocaine at Punta Cana to prison

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Judge sends 32 persons implicated in seizure of 691 kgs of cocaine at Punta Cana to prison
SANTO DOMINGO. The judge for Instruction for Higüey, Edwing Rijo Delgado, ordered one year of preventive custody for 28 officers and four French citizens implicated in the cargo of 691 kgs of cocaine seized at the Punta Cana International Airport.

The magistrate took this decision during a marathon hearing which began on Tuesday at 9:00 a.m., and ended on Wednesday morning at 2:00 a.m.

The persons sent to prison are captains Bolivar Alberto Mercado Diaz, Antony Antonio Santana Nuñez, Jose Manuel Celedonio Castro, Wascar Francisco Zapata Ramirez, and lieutenants Joan Antonio Daniel Rosario, Andres Avelino Mendez Garcia, Arencio Guevara Guevara, Miguel Damian Florimon, Dissoris Ciprian and Carlos H. Martinez.

The same coercive decision was also applied to the French citizens Pascal Jean Fauret, Bruno Armand Victor Ados, Alain Marc Paul Marie Castañy, and Nicolas Cristopher Pisapia.

The judge ordered a release on a bail bond of RD$500,000, travel restrictions, and periodic presence before court officials against Captain Bartolo Marte Mañon, First Lieutenant Sixto Mova, Sergeant Jose Altagracia Concepcion, Corporal Luis Daniel Perez Martinez and First Lieutenant Dioclesiano de Jesus Cruceta.

He ordered house arrest for Captain Rafael Anibal de la Rosa Tapia, who allegedly attempted to take his own life by ingesting an overdose of the medicines used to control his diabetes and cancer.

There was plenty of tension experienced in the courtroom, when the corporal from the National Police, Carlos Ramirez Alcantara, who was posted at the door where the magistrate would enter the courtroom, accidentally discharged his weapon, and wounded himself in the right leg.

The Justice Department said that all of these acting officers of the National Directorate for Drug Control (DNCD), the Corps of Specialized Airport and Aviation Security (Cesac) and Migration stationed at the Punta Cana International Airport took part in three operations which were monitored by undercover agents. The operations paid these officers sums of RD$70,000, US$87,000 and up to RD$600,000 for allowing the departure of large shipments of cocaine to Europe.

The undercover agents added some details such as that on 20 October 2012, the first monitored operation referred to 145 kgs of pure cocaine were put into an airplane that carried out flight JAF 303/304 of Jetflyair, which went to Curaçao and Brussels, Belgium.

The list

The department indicated that supposedly guarding the drugs were National Police captains, Bolivar Alberto Mercado Diaz, Rafael Anibal de la Rosa Tapia and Wascar Francisco Zapata Ramirez, who received US$26,000 each. The Army first lieutenant Joan Antonio Daniel Rosario supposedly received RD$600,000.