Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito has called for the approval of a bill for abolishing the domain right for when carrying out expropriations in drug trafficking cases. He said this would prevent cases like the one involving fugitive drug trafficker Pascual Cabrera who returned to the country after serving a sentence for drug trafficking in Puerto Rico and was able to recover RD$35 million in expropriated goods.
Speaking at the Corripio Media Group luncheon event yesterday, Wednesday 5 November 2014, Dominguez referred to three drug kingpins, one of whom, Winston Rizik Rodriguez (El Gallero) is in jail in La Vega, his arch-rival Jesus Pascual Cabrera, who is the object of an Interpol arrest warrant, and Pascual Cordero Martinez (El Chino) who is also on the run from the Dominican authorities.
Dominguez Brito said that Jesus Pascual Cabrera, together with Winston Rizik and Pascual Cordero are more dangerous than their predecessors, drug traffickers Quirino Paulino and Jose Figueroa Agosto. The Attorney General says they are responsible for over 100 deaths, and that they have operated with the authorities’ support. He said that one thing that the traffickers have in common is that they had strong connections with the military forces, politicians and powerful figures in the country. He said increased efforts needed to be made to strengthen the institutions that combat crime, such as the National Drug Control Agency (DNCD) and the Police, as well as the judges and other prosecution entities.
Dominguez Brito said that the authorities are concentrating on investigating the covers used for the distribution and sale of the drugs in order to guarantee stricter punishments.
Pascual Cordero is regarded as one of the leading illegal drug distributors in the province of Santo Domingo and the National District, and this differentiates him from Cabrera and Rizik who exported drugs to Europe and the United States.
Dominguez Brito said that they have focused on locating the assets that had been purchased with the laundered money. He explained that that was how they were able to arrest Rizik and issue a preventive custody order against him as the leader of the one of the country’s most powerful drug cartels.