Public Ministry requests coercion against seven members of network dedicated to smuggling goods

Santo Domingo.- The Public Ministry requested, through the Specialized Unit Against Smuggling and Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Goods, the imposition of coercive measures and that the process followed against seven Dominicans who were arrested after more than 500 televisions and other items that they smuggled into the country be declared complex.

The defendants Sergio Luis Cáceres Leonardo, 38 years old; Nike Eduardo Rosario Villanueva, 33 years old; Ramón Francisco de Jesús Batista, 21; Francis Montero Peña, 24; Junior Drullard, 34; Jhon Dairo Torres Ozuna, 36, and Francis Mojica Matos, 39 years old, were brought to justice after being arrested in the act. In this instance, the Public Ministry requests that preventive detention be imposed on the ringleader Sergio Luis Cáceres Leonardo, while, for Nike Eduardo Rosario Villanueva, Ramón Francisco de Jesús Batista, Francis Montero Peña, Junior Drullard, Jhon Dairo Torres Ozuna and Francis Mojica Matos, it requests an economic guarantee, periodic presentation before the investigating prosecutor and a ban on leaving the country. The group faces charges for the commission of customs fraud offenses, smuggling, tax violation, violation of the payment of the Selective Consumption Tax, and association of wrongdoers. In the case of Cáceres Leonardo, he is also charged with carrying and possessing an illegal firearm.

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The request for the coercive measure from the Public Ministry, represented by the Attorney General of the Court of Appeals Aracelis Peralta Franco, director of the Unit for the Prevention and Prosecution of Smuggling and Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Goods; the Attorney General of the Court of Appeals Taipey Joa Saad and prosecutor Angie Castro, both attached to that body, was presented on the night of last Wednesday before the Coordinating Office of the Instruction Courts of Santo Domingo Este. The members of the network were identified through surveillance by members of the Criminal Intelligence Directorate (Dintel) of the National Police, who on April 20th caught them in the act while they were transferring more than 500 TCL brand televisions from a van to the seized trucks. The devices were transported in a van from the Puerto Plata dock to the Alma Rosa sector of Santo Domingo Este. Subsequently, during the continuation of the investigations on April 21st, the Public Ministry, together with members of Dintel, executed a judicial search warrant in the Valle del Este sector of Santo Domingo Este, where they also proceeded with the seizure of dozens of Samsung televisions and several DVRs, and other electronic items. In addition to the televisions, several DVRs, five trucks, a year-old Hyundai Tucson jeep, a pistol, a check for RD$772,750 and RD$286,200 in cash were seized, as well as several withdrawal receipts for millions of pesos from different banking institutions. The Judicial Office of Permanent Attention Services of Santo Domingo Este postponed the hearing for the knowledge of the coercion measure for this Wednesday, April 29, 2026, starting at 9:00 in the morning.