The National Drug Control Agency (DNCD) together with the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Public Prosecution office in Santo Domingo East have announced the arrests of three people, two Dominicans and a Cuban who they accuse of belonging to a drug trafficking and money laundering network. They confiscated US$2.5 million in the US and US$417,998 in the Dominican Republic, together with several firearms, cell phones and luxury vehicles.
DNCD chief Rolando Rosado Mateo, prosecutors Nelson Beltre and Pedro Jimenez, and Julio Cesar Cifron Velazquez from the DNCD Money Laundering Unit, said that the Dominicans were Bernardino Antonio Estrella Florentino, alias Tony, and Ulises Montas Roja and that the Cuban was Barbara Suarez Hernandez. The money was found during a raid on one of their apartments and a money exchange bureau, MyE Inversiones, which the authorities said was being used as a front for money laundering.
There was a second raid in Ensanche Ozama.
The investigation has been under way for two months. The authorities confirmed that the Dominicans had prior convictions for drug trafficking and Estrella Florentino had been deported from the USA.
www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2013/4/10/272657/Apresan-a-3-acusados-de-lavado-de-activos-por-casi-US3-millones