NewsWhore
03-16-2009, 04:50 PM
New Navy chief Vice Admiral Homero Lajara Sola has announced the arrest of a suspected smuggling ring in the eastern province of La Altagracia. The group was arrested after trying to bribe a member of the navy with RD$300,000 and a 2009 Mitsubishi Montero in return for being able to continue with their operations. Lajara Sola says that the individuals arrested for the aborted boat trip are Cuban Raynaldo Vasquez Padron and Dominicans Augusto Montero Montero and Esteban Perez. Eight would-be passengers were arrested for trying to set out on a illegal boat trip to Puerto Rico via Cabo Engano, in the eastern province of La Altagracia.
In a presentation to the press, the Navy displayed the Mitsubishi Montero 2009 SUV, a rifle, cash in dollars and pesos, a laptop, radios for ring member communications, cell phones and a scale for weighing drugs, as reported in Listin Diario. Lajara Sola said that the navy member who did not accept the bribe would be promoted, but that he would not be named to avoid any possible repercussions.
He said that the organizers of the illegal trip advanced RD$20,000 to the navy member, who accepted this as proof of the bribe. Lajara Sola said that only two men are posted at Cabo Engano and if one had accepted the bribe, it would have opened the way for the boat trip organizers.
Lajara Sola suspects the trip could have been more about drug smuggling than people smuggling. "Look, when you hear that a corporal was offered RD$300,000, I do not think that a boat trip yields that much to offer 300,000 pesos. It is a personal opinion, not the result of intelligence, but logic tells us that we are not talking about a boat trip here," he said, as quoted in Listin Diario.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#6)
In a presentation to the press, the Navy displayed the Mitsubishi Montero 2009 SUV, a rifle, cash in dollars and pesos, a laptop, radios for ring member communications, cell phones and a scale for weighing drugs, as reported in Listin Diario. Lajara Sola said that the navy member who did not accept the bribe would be promoted, but that he would not be named to avoid any possible repercussions.
He said that the organizers of the illegal trip advanced RD$20,000 to the navy member, who accepted this as proof of the bribe. Lajara Sola said that only two men are posted at Cabo Engano and if one had accepted the bribe, it would have opened the way for the boat trip organizers.
Lajara Sola suspects the trip could have been more about drug smuggling than people smuggling. "Look, when you hear that a corporal was offered RD$300,000, I do not think that a boat trip yields that much to offer 300,000 pesos. It is a personal opinion, not the result of intelligence, but logic tells us that we are not talking about a boat trip here," he said, as quoted in Listin Diario.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#6)