Dominican and US officials crack down on regional drug trafficking ring

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — U.S. and Dominican officials on Wednesday arrested nearly a dozen suspects after they launched a joint operation to crack down on a regional drug trafficking ring.

Officials with the Dominican Republic’s Anti-Drug Agency and agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Southern Command fanned out across the Caribbean country before dawn as part of the operation.

Among those arrested are the suspected heads of the ring that officials say received drugs from South America in the Dominican Republic and neighboring Puerto Rico and then shipped them to the United States and Europe. They were identified as Rafael Ynoa Santana and Isidoro Rotestan Clase.

It wasn’t immediately clear if they had attorneys.

Officials said the drug trafficking ring is responsible for more than two tons of drugs seized in the Dominican Republic.