In the past two months alone, the Police has removed at least 30 children from drug trafficking, including a two-year old boy who had been recruited. Children are frequently used to operate drug selling points and deliver crack, cocaine and marijuana to customers. Dominican law is protective of children and penalties are reduced for them. In this past four days, Police Anti-Drug Department officers (Dican) arrested four children during drug operations in Santiago and Greater Santo Domingo. The most dramatic of the cases involved a teenage boy who lived alone in the patio of his grandfather’s house and was forced to sell drugs day and night, according to Police spokesman Colonel Jacobo Mateo Moquete. The minor was found to have 22 portions of marihuana weighing 73.3 grams, and 57 portions of crack weighing 26.1 grams in his pockets. “This is the largest amount of drugs found on a minor,” said Colonel Carlos Fernandez Valerio of Dican. He said the boy had never gone to school and says he doesn’t know the whereabouts of his parents. The grandfather denied knowing that his grandson was forced to sell drugs. The Police said the teenager does not dare reveal who his bosses were.
On the same day, Dican agents arrested a 16-year old in Villa Liberacion in Bonao with 12 portions of marijuana weighing 84.6 grams.
As reported in Listin Diario, relatives fear that they or their families could be murdered if the drug traffickers suspect they have been told on. However, the Dican chief says there have been cases where the parents of the children themselves make them sell the drugs. Fernandez Valerio said that children found selling drugs receive special treatment and efforts are made to remove them from drug selling through government social entities.
The Attorney General office reveals that between 2012 and 2013 a total of 156 minors were arrested in connection with drug cases, but not all are receiving help.
Diario Libre has been running a series of articles on the involvement of children in the drug trafficking trade.
www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2014/1/23/307946/La-Policia-rescata-a-30-menores-eran-obligados-a-vender-drogas