Two colonels have been permanently relieved of their duties after being accused of shutting down the security systems at the La Romana International Airport (LRM) in October 2018, to allow a plane to land with a shipment of around 500 kilos of cocaine. The men were arrested on Monday, 15 January 2018.
The arrests came about after the Colombian authorities shared information with the Dominican authorities that linked the accused men with a group of South American drug dealers, said to be the owners of the drugs seized in La Romana. The Colombian sources presented evidence that the Colombian aircraft landed at the airport during the night and went to the end of the runway where the crew deposited the shipment. It then took off immediately to return to Colombia.
Domingo Cruz Figuereo Heredia, from the Air Force and the then head of security at the La Romana Airport, as well as former Colonel Robert Antonio Ramírez Pimentel, from the Army and the then head of the National Drug Control Agency (DNCD) at the airport were arrested. Also arrested was Enmanuel Cruz Espinal who used to be attached to the military and former lieutenant Andrés Castillo Padilla who voluntarily turned himself into the authorities.
The Attorney General’s office said that international arrest warrants have been issued against foreigners in the case.
In a related story, El Dia reported that the operation is related to the Cartel del Malecon, in which Venezuelan Yoel Palmar was arrested in Colombia, accused of having exported tons of drugs and millions of US dollars through the Malecon Palace Casino that operated at the Malecon Center in Santo Domingo. Palmar, regarded as the biggest drug trafficking capo for smuggling from Venezuela to the Dominican Republic was arrested on 11 December 2017.
Read more in Spanish:
El Dia
Diario Libre
17 January 2018
