Public Prosecutor’s Office announced it has dismantled a human trafficking network operating through the border with Haiti. Prosecutors seized hundreds of passports, firearms and cash in what is named Operation Iguana. The Attorney General Office press release explains that the network leader had served as government immigration coordinator for the Migration Agency in Jimaní, the most important border city.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office launched on Wednesday, 16 March 2022 through the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office Against the Smuggling of Migrants and Trafficking in Persons (PETT), Operation Iguana, with which it dismantles an organized crime network dedicated to the smuggling of immigrants and arrested several people, including a local official of the General Directorate of Migration.
During the operation, Roberto Méndez Pérez, coordinator of control at the Jimaní border post of the General Directorate of Migration and inspector Johan Rosario Castillo were arrested. Also Keliton Eduardo Vólquez Guzmán, Delson Manuel Medina Díaz, Dominga Guzmán, and Deivi Nova Reyes.
The justice agency explained that the dismantling of the criminal organization was possible thanks to the intelligence work carried out in collaboration with the Migration Agency and the Special Division of Transnational Crimes. Raids were carried out simultaneously in Jimaní, Neiba and other locations in Independencia, Baoruco and Pedernales provinces.
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Attorney General Office
17 March 2022