NewsWhore
06-22-2006, 04:10 PM
A report by the National Drug Control Department (DNCD) indicates that they have identified 672 drug sale points in 168 barrios in Santo Domingo. The DNCD arrests an average of 400 people each month, a large number of which are children age 9 to 14 who are being used as mules.
As reported in El Caribe, state prosecutors complain that most of those arrested for selling drugs are released by the judges, despite many being repeat offenders. This is one of the major obstacles to combating drug trafficking in the country.
DNCD spokesman Abel Rojas said that there are at least four large sales points in the slum areas. Spokespeople for neighborhood organizations told El Caribe that the sales prosper because the traffickers pay tolls to the police and drug control agents who serve as informers about any raid that may take place and so that they be allowed to go about their trade.
Rojas said that the barrios where most drugs are being transacted are Cristo Rey, Pekin, Espaillat, Cienfuegos, Bella Vista, Suelo Duro, Cacmboya, Los Salados, Hermanas Mirabal, Bolivar, Gurabo, Las Cayenas, Hato Mayor, Hato del Yaque, La Otra Banda, Baracoa and La Joya in Santo Domingo.
In a separate interview in El Caribe, Police Chief Bernardo Santana Paez said that the increase in crime in the DR has its roots in the growth in drug trafficking here, because the country is used as a bridge to the US. Drugs are delivered from Colombia to Haiti and then moved to US territory through the DR. The major local problem is that drug traffickers pay their agents in drugs, and this has led to an increase in drug consumption locally as more young people are initiated into addiction by the traffickers.
Santana said that the government has plans to confront small-scale drug smuggling, which is believed to be the root of violence in the barrios and the increase in violent crime.
He said that crime has diminished in the last year and a half. From 1996 to 2000, the homicide rate was 13.09-14.39% per 100,000 inhabitants. In 2001 that figure declined to 12.49% and increased to 14.51% in 2002. Nevertheless, in 2003 the homicide rate increased to 21.60% and then to 25.5% in 2004, but it then fell to 24.57% in 2005.
Link To Original Article (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#9)
As reported in El Caribe, state prosecutors complain that most of those arrested for selling drugs are released by the judges, despite many being repeat offenders. This is one of the major obstacles to combating drug trafficking in the country.
DNCD spokesman Abel Rojas said that there are at least four large sales points in the slum areas. Spokespeople for neighborhood organizations told El Caribe that the sales prosper because the traffickers pay tolls to the police and drug control agents who serve as informers about any raid that may take place and so that they be allowed to go about their trade.
Rojas said that the barrios where most drugs are being transacted are Cristo Rey, Pekin, Espaillat, Cienfuegos, Bella Vista, Suelo Duro, Cacmboya, Los Salados, Hermanas Mirabal, Bolivar, Gurabo, Las Cayenas, Hato Mayor, Hato del Yaque, La Otra Banda, Baracoa and La Joya in Santo Domingo.
In a separate interview in El Caribe, Police Chief Bernardo Santana Paez said that the increase in crime in the DR has its roots in the growth in drug trafficking here, because the country is used as a bridge to the US. Drugs are delivered from Colombia to Haiti and then moved to US territory through the DR. The major local problem is that drug traffickers pay their agents in drugs, and this has led to an increase in drug consumption locally as more young people are initiated into addiction by the traffickers.
Santana said that the government has plans to confront small-scale drug smuggling, which is believed to be the root of violence in the barrios and the increase in violent crime.
He said that crime has diminished in the last year and a half. From 1996 to 2000, the homicide rate was 13.09-14.39% per 100,000 inhabitants. In 2001 that figure declined to 12.49% and increased to 14.51% in 2002. Nevertheless, in 2003 the homicide rate increased to 21.60% and then to 25.5% in 2004, but it then fell to 24.57% in 2005.
Link To Original Article (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#9)