Security staff at Las Americas International Airport confiscated 51,000 contraband watches yesterday. Chief of security Colonel Nelson Jose Florentino said authorities at the airport suspect the watches were illegally brought into the country to avoid paying taxes. The cargo arrived from Panama on a Copa airline flight in nine boxes that were found inside containers left on the plane. El Caribe newspaper reports the authorities suspect the importers’ plan was to wait for darkness to remove the boxes from the plane and take them over the airport fence. The cargo was consigned to a well-known distributor of watches and jewellery in Santo Domingo whose identity has not been revealed. Seven employees of Copa were detained for questioning.
