DR1 Daily News - Dominican Republic

The Abinader administration announced the purchase of four Tejo-class coastal patrol vessels for the Dominican Navy. The equipment is promoted as essential to the patrolling of Dominican waters. The Dominican Republic is located in the center of the Caribbean a geographic position that makes it especially vulnerable to maritime crime and those who seek to use the country as a transshipment point.

President Luis Abinader has justified the acquisition as part of broader national security spending increases driven by external factors, including regional drug trafficking routes and cross-border criminal activity. The vessels will strengthen Dominican maritime security and counter drug trafficking operations in the Caribbean.

The Ministry of Defense is making the purchase for €24,000,000, or an individual price of six million euros. The purchase was reportedly...