Five members of the National Drug Control Agency (DNCD), have been expelled including two first lieutenants and two sergeant majors after a husband and wife accused them of asking for RD$600,000 in return for releasing them following their arrest in Higuey.
The officers were named as Jose M. Gonzalez and Ariel de Leon and the enlisted men are Servio Mendez Carvajal and Wilfredo Emilio Meran. The first is from the Police and the last three the Army, as well as the last of the five, Agent Pablo Alberto Reyes Genao.
The head of the DNCD, Major General Rolando Rosado Mateo, said that the men were arrested and that the couple involved, Nelson Antonio Zapata and Ingrid Josefina Vicente was taken to the DNCD offices in Higuey where they made a positive identification.
Rosado Mateo warned that the DNCD would take the same action against any of its members, irrespective of rank, and that the Public Prosecution service had the power to bring criminal charges.
Zapata and Vicente said that they were arrested on January 19 when leaving the Basilica La Altagracia in Higuey, and taken to the DNCD offices where they were held for several hours.
They issued a complaint about the five men to the Public Prosecutor in Higuey.
www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2013/2/13/265774/DNCD-expulsa-a-5-miembros-por-extorsion-incluidos-dos-oficiales