The National Drug Control Agency (DNCD), together with the District Attorney of San Pedro de Macoris, has seized 142 “bricks” of cocaine in a summer residence in Guayacanes, a property said to belong to former Barahona senator Noe Sterling Vasquez. Clemente Rosario, the only person who was in the house at the time of the search, was arrested. The authorities announced that they were looking for other alleged occupants, especially the son of the former senator, 36-year old Martin Sterling Villalon, who has been implicated in other drug cases. It will be recalled that Sterling Villalon was one of the accused in the Paya Case, but the court discharged him on the grounds of “insufficient evidence.” Listin Diario reports that Sterling Villalon has since handed himself in to the DNCD, today, Wednesday 28 November.
DNCD spokesman Roberto Lebron said that the drugs would be sent to the National Forensic Science Institute (Inacif) today, Wednesday 28 November, for analysis and precise weighing.
He reported that yesterday, Tuesday 27 November, the institution carried out other searches in eastern Santo Domingo in connection with the same case and that they may seize some properties. “For some days now, the DNCD and the Justice Department were watching several men who were using this house because they suspected that they were involved in unusual activities,” he stated during a press conference. Yesterday morning a judge in San Pedro de Macoris issued a search warrant and the authorities were able to proceed. Inside the two-story house that has direct access to the beach, they also found torn plastic bags, which according to Lebron, “suggests that a certain amount of drugs was withdrawn from the house.”