Last night the National Drug Control Department (DNCD) arrested five people including a police captain. They are accused of belonging to a drug trafficking network suspected of sending heroin to Puerto Rico. Those arrested had a package with 478 capsules of the narcotic, ready to be ingested.

They were identified as former officer Luis Elpidio Rodriguez, who was immediately dismissed from the force, his brother, Jose Alberto Rodriguez Hernandez and Jose Luis Pena Hernandez, as well as cousins Hilda Miguelina Pinales Vargas and Carolina Pinales Pereyra.

The DNCD said that the group was arrested after a surveillance exercise and after sharing information with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). A press release from the DNCD says that this group is suspected of sending heroin to Puerto Rico, using the Dominican Republic as a bridge.

A member of the DNCD, attached to the Tactical Division of Sensitive Investigations (DTIS) had the women constantly under surveillance up to the time when they handed the drugs over to the officer, who was at the steering wheel of the vehicle. They were arrested at the intersection of Nicolas de Ovando Avenue with Juan Alejandro Ibarra, in the slum area of Cristo Rey in Santo Domingo.

Both women had arrived at the car on a motoconcho driven by Pena Hernandez who was also detained to determine if he was part of the network.

More...