A document sent by the Attorney General’s office to the Supreme Court of Justice provides evidence that arrested former army captain Quirino Ernesto Paulino Castillo and several of his associates traveled to Venezuela to pay for a shipment of drugs in October 2003.
US assistant prosecutor David Berardinelli stated in a New York court that Paulino Castillo purchased the shipments of cocaine in Venezuela and had them transported to the DR. The drugs were then smuggled to New York via Puerto Rico and the payment was transferred to several bank accounts.
US investigators were able to intercept telephone calls as part of new evidence presented to the Dominican authorities. The US authorities are seeking Paulino Castillo’s extradition. The document shows that at least 10 calls were intercepted in which Paulino Castillo talks about drug shipments that had been sent or were being sent to the US. The authorities have recordings of another 12 calls in which he talks about money laundering. The calls were intercepted between 2003 and 2004.
The Supreme Court is currently examining the extradition request.