Dominican Republic's security forces seized an estimated $11 million worth of cocaine after a narco jet crashed.

Reports said a pilot of a drug-carrying Cessna plane was not able to land safely and crashed. The narco jet was picked up on a radar after breaking into the Dominican Republic's airspace on Wednesday night.

Narco Jet Misses Drug Shipment After Crash

According to Daily Mail, the narco plane was chased down by an armed fighter jet at around 11 p.m. in the city of Oviedo in Perdenales province before its crash. Authorities in the Dominican Republic inspected the wreckage of the Cessna plane that crashed, and they discovered 277 packages of cocaine hidden in compartments. 

Based on a Texas News Today report, members of the Dominican Republic's National Drug Control Directorate removed the cocaine plastic-wrapped packages from the compartment area of ​​a Cessna jet. 

In a statement, the National Drug Control Directorate said at least 100 bundles were discovered inside one compartment. Authorities confiscated a total of 288.87 kilos of cocaine with an estimated value of around $ 11 million. 

However, no arrest was made as the narco jet's occupants somehow managed to escape after the plane crashed. The drug enforcement agency said agents were already searching the city to find the narco jet's occupants. 

Dominican Republic authorities expect more large busts to happen as they continue to investigate a drug trafficking ring dismantled in September with the support of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). So far, at least 21 individuals have been arrested, including three former and current government officials, in connection with this operation.

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Dominican Republic: A Strategic Point for Drug Cartels

Reports said the proximity of the Dominican Republic to Central and South America made the island a strategic point for Mexican and Colombian transnational criminal groups. 

These drug cartels partnered with the Dominican Republic's local trafficking network to move their illegal drugs not only in the U.S. but also in Europe and Puerto Rico.

Based on the DEA's 2020 National Drug Threat Assessment, the Dominican transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) worked with foreign suppliers to ship not only cocaine but also heroin and fentanyl directly to the northeast from Colombia, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic.

"Dominican traffickers take advantage of Puerto Rico's status as a U.S. territory to facilitate commercial air transport of cocaine into the United States, mainly into the Northeast and south Florida," the report noted.

The DEA added that they had discovered that Dominican TCOs typically used small maritime vessels to move illegal drugs from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico via the 80-mile sea called the Mona Passage while also using mail and commercial shipping services to transport illegal drugs to the U.S.

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This article is owned by Latin Post

Written by: Jess Smith

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