The Listin Diario leads with the ongoing investigation into ex-Army Captain Quirino E Paulino Castillo, the alleged ringleader of a local drug smuggling operation with international implications. Paulino Castillo was arrested on Sunday, along with three others, in connection with the discovery of a truck carrying 1,387 kilos of cocaine whose estimated value was put at RD$900 million. According to the report, the Attorney General’s Office, the DNCD (National Drug Control Agency) and the Ministry of Agriculture are working together to classify and coordinate the former military man’s billion-peso assets that are being seized as part of the investigation. These assets are said to include luxury vehicles, helicopters, warehouses, gas stations, bank accounts, factories, night clubs and farmland. Government sources informed that Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito has sought the help of agronomist Amilcar Romero in safeguarding the agricultural assets being confiscated, valued at millions of pesos and involving farmland, a rice production plant and agricultural implements. The Ministry of Agriculture expressed concern for the situation of hundreds of soya, sorghum and corn farmers operating in a system of tenancy overseen entirely by Paulino Castillo. The ex-captain had financed a reported 84,000 tareas (over 13,000 acres) of arable land worth RD$375 million, with “his own money,” says the Listin Diario. Paulino Castillo had a company set up with his wife, Belkis Elizabeth Ubri Medrano, who was also arrested but is free on bail. The newspaper says they had plans to broadly extend their agricultural operations into the provinces of Barahona, Pedernales and Bahoruco and were working in conjunction with the Sorghum Commission to obtain permission to cultivate 28,000 tareas (over 4,000 acres) in various projects. On top of those operations, Paulino Castillo managed 208,000 tareas of soya, corn and sorghum production, 2,700 cattle, and other produce such as beans (habichuelas), green pidgeon peas (guandules), and sweet potato (batata). Under the new statute of the public ministry, control and protection of assets seized by the DNCD is overseen by the Office of the Attorney General, says the Listin Diario.