The Public Prosecutor’s Office launched Operation Panthera 7 against the members of the international drug trafficking and money laundering network from which, together with the National Directorate of Drug Control, more than 9.8 tons of cocaine were seized last December, with the strategic support of the Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States.
In the actions against the criminal network, developed autonomously by the Dominican Republic, 89 prosecutors and 564 special forces agents participate, who carry out arrests and raids from 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, January 11.
The elite units participating in operations against organized crime are deployed in various parts of the country, using special equipment, including helicopter support, in what, in the opinion of the agencies, completes one of the largest operational offensives against organized crime carried out in the hemisphere.
The inquiries have included modern investigation techniques, such as the reconstruction of the crime scene using special software, among others, which will be presented to the judge in due course and in which collaboration has been received from the Central Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DICRIM) for the processing of some important scenes for the investigation.
In the course of the investigation, evidence has been collected that shows that the 9,587 packages weighing 9,889 kilos of cocaine were brought to the Dominican Republic from Colombia by sea, specifically through Bayahibe, La Romana and Pedernales, in the months prior to December 2024.
In addition, the criminal organisation captured several employees of the Multimodal Port of Caucedo, who contributed to the entry of the cargo to the terminal aboard container number FFAU4542281.
Likewise, the criminal organization operates the companies Grasswey Group SRL and GWG Transport, container transport, which they used for international drug trafficking. However, the investigation revealed a wider and more complex network of sponsors.
The investigation showed that, to guard the cargo, four men with assault weapons entered the port inside the empty container with the active complicity of employees of the aforementioned terminal who were associated with the criminal organisation, as evidenced by the evidence collected in the investigation, some of which was delivered to the authorities by the Caucedo administration.
The National Directorate of Drug Control had intelligence information indicating that an important shipment of cocaine was intended to be moved in the port, taking advantage of the large commercial flow in December, so, on instructions from its president, Vice Admiral José Manuel Cabrera Ulloa, a greater than usual personnel and tactical units were deployed.
Subsequently, the intelligence information was reinforced by an alert that the DNCD received from the Caucedo administration for unusual movements, so the operation of the occupation of the controlled substance was carried out.
The authorities revealed that at 05:40 in the afternoon of 05-12-2024, container number FFAU4542281 was captured while being transferred aboard the Mack brand truck, model CXU613, blue colour, license plate number L380563, RNTT sign S503, travelling along Brisas de Caucedo Street, in a North-South direction, and upon arriving at access control P-0 of the Caucedo multimodal port, evades the verification of the X-ray machine, called “Presting”, and the inspection and verification, which evidences the participation of the Inspector and the port sealer, who participated in allowing the entry of the drug and the four armed men who were guarding the shipment.
At 06:05 in the afternoon on 05-12-2024, the container FFAU4542281 was captured while it was being transferred aboard the Mack truck, model CXU613, blue colour, license plate L380563, RNTT S503 sign, passing the P-1 access control of the Caucedo Multimodal port, where it is declared as an empty return and is identified, but it was carrying the more than 9.8 tons of cocaine that we have referred to.
At 08:21 p.m. on 05-12-2024, the container FFAU4542281 was found at ground level in the container yard of the Caucedo Multimodal port, specifically, in position C346041, in front of the refrigerated container HLBU9354083 with a cargo of bananas, from Guatemala, which was in the process of contamination in the port with 3,598 packages of cocaine, while in container FFAU4542281 the amount of 5,989 packages of cocaine remained to be transferred to container FFAU4542281, so that the total number of packages found in both containers, when added together, gives the amount of 9,587 packages that when weighed have the net amount of 9,889 kilograms.
The evidence shows that the operation that was carried out was to remove the packages of cocaine from the FFAU4542281 container, which had entered Caucedo, to enter the container HLBU9354083, bound for Belgium, but the operation was interrupted by the actions of the DNCD and the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and that is the reason why both containers had packages at the time of the occupation.
To make room to enter the refrigerator container, as the one from Guatemala bound for Belgium is known, part of the cargo of bananas that it was carrying was removed.
The four armed men, with long guns and hoods, kidnapped a truck driver who was leaving a container. They tried to leave the terminal aboard the truck driven by the kidnapped, but the DNCD, in coordination with the security of the port, had already ordered the closure of the same, so the members of the organization who are known in that world as “Nailers”, seeing that they could not leave due to the deployment of the agencies, they escaped through a perimeter fence, as evidenced by a video of the perimeter that is in the hands of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The Mack truck, model CXU613, blue, license plate L380563, RNTT sign S503, was purchased in Santiago de los Caballeros in the name of a frontman and member of the organisation. However, the evidence shows that the payment and the procedures for its acquisition made it one of the main operational axes of the criminal network. After the fact, the criminal organization hid the truck. However, it was located and seized by the Public Prosecutor’s Office for the deployment of intelligence actions and a 360 analysis of the camera system.
The Mack truck, model CXU613, blue, license plate L380563, RNTT S503 sign, used to enter the container loaded with the drug, had a GPS seized that the criminal organization was not aware that it possessed since said device had been left by the company that had sold it. The aforementioned vehicle had not been transferred at the time of the entry of the drugs into the port, with the aim of the criminal organization to hide the real owner.
The GPS mapping, which, when tracked, corroborates, along with other evidence, that the main place where the container with the 9.8 tons of cocaine was loaded, which is located a few minutes from the port, is owned by one of the main defendants, who is under arrest, the president of the company GWG TRANSPORT, who had not transferred the property, but the Public Prosecutor’s Office has in its possession the act of sale and the evidence that proves that it is his property.
The investigators from the Dominican Republic, once they had used the evidence that proves it, established the traceability of the shipment and then proceeded to share information on some of their findings in the countries to which the information may be of high interest.
All the forensic examinations of the case have been carried out in strict accordance with the law and the procedures established in this regard, which, in general, have not changed from 2004 to date.
In the raids, digital evidence, vehicles, money, firearms, outboard motors, among others, and documentary evidence that is currently being processed were seized.
In the next few hours, the prosecution will proceed to request a measure of coercion against the defendants arrested so far and who are members of the aforementioned organization.
