The Ministry of Environment announced the seizing of thousands of bags of illegally-produced charcoal. The confiscations were in coordination with the Environmental Specialized Procurement Service and the National Environmental Protection Service, both units of the Ministry of Environment, and took place simultaneously at storage points in several provinces, following several months of intelligence work.
Minister of Environment Francisco Domínguez Brito insisted that those involved in illegal production and sale of charcoal should be vigorously prosecuted. He said the government needs to deal with charcoal traffickers as it does with traffickers in cocaine to stop the charcoal traffic networks from functioning in the country.
The Ministry of Environment said that in one business alone, in Mercado Nuevo (Av. Duarte) in the National District, 2,000 sacks of charcoal were seized. In Jimaní, 224 sacks were confiscated by the authorities, while another 115 sacks were impounded in Pedernales.
27 March 2017
