In a coordinated strike across five provinces, Dominican authorities, backed by the DEA and US Southern Command, dismantled a powerful international drug trafficking network, arresting 10 individuals and seizing millions of dollars in assets.
According to the National Drug Control Agency (DNCD), the operation, code-named “Buffalo NK,” involved 37 simultaneous raids, more than 400 law enforcement personnel, and aerial, maritime, and ground units. Led by the Public Ministry, the operation commenced at 3am on Wednesday, 18 September 2024.
Authorities seized approximately two metric tons of cocaine during the raids, which spanned the Greater Santo Domingo, and the provinces of Puerto Plata, María Trinidad Sánchez, La Romana, and Samaná. Helicopters supported the operation, which also included participation from the Navy, Army, Air Force, National Police, DEA, and US Southern Command.
The dismantled network is alleged to have transported large quantities of drugs from South America, specifically Colombia and Venezuela, to Puerto Rico, the United States, and Europe via the Dominican Republic, utilizing speedboats and fishing vessels. Once the narcotics reached the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, they were then smuggled to the United States and Europe, where their value would often triple, generating enormous illicit profits for the organization.
Investigations revealed that the criminal network was also involved in contract killings, extortion, and money laundering. Key figures identified by authorities include Rafael Ynoa Santana (alias “El Cojo,” “Pocho,” or “El Don”) and Isidoro Rotestan Clase (alias “El Men”), both of whom were apprehended during the operation.
Ynoa Santana was found to have ties to Colombian drug lord Juan Carlos López Macías, also known as “El Sobrino,” who was the leader of an international drug trafficking organization linked to Colombian and Mexican criminal groups. “El Sobrino” was arrested in June 2022 during Operation “Troy.”
“This is the first time that evidence from another country, in this case Colombia, has been used to strengthen an investigation and prosecution of an international drug trafficking organization in the Dominican Republic,” authorities stated during a press conference on Wednesday, 18 September with the participation of officers of the US Southern Command and DEA.
The Attorney General Miriam German Brito and the president of the National Drug Control Agency, Rear Admiral José Manuel Cabrera Ulloa were in Washington, D.C. this week to visit the offices of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). They met with DEA administrator Anne Wilgram; Ronald L. Davis, director of the United Marshals Service; Renita Denise Foster, director of the Caribbean Division and Clifford Brown, deputy director of the Caribbean Division.
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19 September 2024