Attorney General Miriam German Brito met on Tuesday, 19 April 2022 with an official delegation from Colombia on specific actions to combat international drug trafficking. The meeting was held just days before the visit of President Ivan Duque of Colombia, set for 28 April 2022.
Germán Brito received in her office Brigadier General Rafael Olaya Quintero, commander of the Colombian Task Force Against Drug Trafficking, and Captain Juan Carlos Jiménez Howard, head of the Colombian Navy Anti-Drug Agency.
Most of the cocaine confiscated this year is said to have arrived by sea from Colombia.
Also attending the meeting was Yeni Berenice Reynoso, the director general of Prosecution for the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Attorney General Office and the president of the National Drug Control Agency (DNCD), Vice Admiral José Cabrera Ulloa.
The PGR reported that the visiting mission informed the Public Prosecutor’s Offie of progress made in Colombia and the adjacent seas with the Orion naval campaign. This regional initiative is focused on coordinating efforts in the fight against drug trafficking.
The visitors recognized the extraordinary efforts made by the Dominican Republic as part of this initiative that seeks greater effectiveness in the fight against drug trafficking.
The Orion naval campaign, initiated by the Colombian Naval Corps, now involves more than 40 countries and some 100 agencies working to curb drug trafficking and other related crimes.
The strategy integrates the development of operations in the maritime areas of responsibility of the participating countries in the Americas, Europe and Africa.
The Dominican Republic has been part of the campaign since its second version in 2018. Participating institutions are the Navy, the Dominican Air Force (FAD), the National Drug Control Agency (DNCD) and the Customs Agency (DGA).
During the Orion VIII Naval Campaign and through the development of joint operations, the Dominican agencies achieved the seizure of 2,148.93 kilograms of cocaine hydrochloride, a significant hit on transnational organized crime organizations.
So far this year, 11,998.553 kilograms of drugs have been incinerated in the Dominican Republic, mostly cocaine, with 9,472.310 kilograms, notes the Public Prosecutor’s Office in a press release.
20 April 2022