Over 20 to give evidence in Dominican Republic largest drug bust

By VonDez Phipps
Reporter-SKNVibes.com

~~Adz:Left~~ SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – SOME 20 nationals from the Dominican Republic (DR) were summoned to testify in the trial of Quirino Paulino Castillo, who was charged with trafficking almost 1 400 kilos of cocaine into the US.

This has been the biggest drug bust in the history of that country.

It has been reported that the group of 20 witnesses were formally notified by the local Ministry of Justice via a diplomatic note received by the DR Ministry of Foreign Relations.  According to Nacional news, “Those people have been notified to declare not only in the Quirino case but in cases also being heard related to the Quirino case itself.”

Castillo is a former captain of the DR and is allegedly the leader of a major drug trafficking organisation, which was responsible for smuggling tons of cocaine into the US. Castillo’s total assets amassed to somewhere in the neighbourhood of RD$2 billion. 

The ex-captain was arrested following the confiscation of 1,387 kilos of cocaine linked to him on December 19, 2004. The cocaine had an estimated street value of RD$900 million (approx. US$26 400). He was consequently extradited to the US for hearings of a drug-smuggling case in New Jersey.

Castillo’s extradition is the first under a newly adopted criminal code in the DR, and was the result of a joint investigation between the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the DR Government’s National Direction for Drug Control and was sponsored by the US Organised Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.

 Meanwhile, during a hearing in the case held Monday 25, the owners of FAMA Shipping, located in Manhattan’s Amsterdam Avenue, Fátima Henríquez Diaz and Jose de Leon Ortega were given an opportunity to air their pleas. Both owners were extradited in connection with the Castillo proceedings.

According to Nacional News, US federal prosecutors claimed they “have sufficient evidence that incriminate the defendants”.

The trial is to begin on September 2 where the 20-plus witnesses would face the Manhattan’s South District Federal Court.