{"id":492160,"date":"2025-11-22T19:00:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T23:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/uncategorized\/clawers-mechanics-and-watchmen-this-is-how-the-network-operated-in-puerto-caucedo\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T19:00:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T23:00:30","slug":"clawers-mechanics-and-watchmen-this-is-how-the-network-operated-in-puerto-caucedo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/dominican-news\/clawers-mechanics-and-watchmen-this-is-how-the-network-operated-in-puerto-caucedo\/","title":{"rendered":"Clawers, mechanics and watchmen: this is how the network operated in Puerto Caucedo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Santo Domingo.\u2013<\/strong> The Public Ministry revealed new details about the criminal structure linked to former councilman Francisco Alberto Paulino Castro<\/strong>, alias \u201cFrancis\u201d<\/em> or \u201cEl Compadre\u201d<\/em>, accused of operating a network dedicated to international drug trafficking, money laundering, and contamination of containers<\/strong> in the Caucedo Multimodal Port.<\/p>\n\n\nAccording to the coercion measure, the organization took advantage of internal accesses, technical functions, and breaches of the security system<\/strong> to introduce drugs into containers bound for the United States and Europe.
The structure was composed of leaders, transporters, mechanics, “clavadores”, camera operators, security personnel, and suppliers of illicit substances.\n\n\n

Who were they and what did they do within the network?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\nThe Public Ministry attributes to \u201cFrancis\u201d<\/em> the use of the structure to send drug shipments abroad. His link with criminal networks is not new: in 2012 he had already been arrested with six packages of cocaine.
On July 4, 2025, two vehicles left his residence driven by the accused Marko Popovic<\/strong> and Jos\u00e9 Augusto Rodr\u00edguez S\u00e1nchez<\/strong>, confirming their active participation in the operations.\n\nJos\u00e9 Augusto Rodr\u00edguez S\u00e1nchez (\u201cEl Rubio\u201d)<\/strong> is identified as one of the main leaders: he received, stored, and distributed the drugs, recruited personnel from the port, and used companies to justify profits.\n\nIn the terminal, several employees facilitated the access and manipulation of the shipments:\n\n\n
    \n
  • Melvin Manuel Fis Taveras<\/strong> introduced the drugs to the port and delivered them to the \u201cclavadores\u201d.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Wilmer Evangelista Rumaldo<\/strong>, \u00c1ngel David Feliz Cuevas<\/strong>, Edwin Alberto Mej\u00eda Guerrero<\/strong>, Fernando Javier Castro Ramos<\/strong> and Wilson Tom\u00e1s Altagracia<\/strong> hid and placed the drugs inside the refrigerated containers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Gregory Arturo Calzado Paredes<\/strong>, identified as the logistics chief, recruited personnel and modified trucks with hidden compartments.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Leandro Manuel Arias Santana (\u201cBerni\u201d)<\/strong> acted as a supplier and financier.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Cleudi Zapata (\u201cPelota\u201d)<\/strong> provided drugs for the operations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Francisco Col\u00f3n Natera (\u201cKelito\u201d)<\/strong> falsified the security seals of the contaminated containers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\nEven the surveillance system was compromised.
    The camera operators Jos\u00e9 Francisco Sabino Castillo<\/strong> and Manuel Amancio Moreno de los Santos<\/strong> accepted bribes to omit reports of irregular movements within the port.\n\nOther key roles included transportation and support for internal logistics:
    Fernando de Jes\u00fas Ventura Segura<\/strong>, Mauricio Josu\u00e9 Castillo<\/strong>, Jonathan Ditren (\u201cEl Brujo\u201d)<\/strong> and Jos\u00e9 Alberto L\u00f3pez Alc\u00e1ntara (\u201cBururun\u201d)<\/strong> participated in the transfer, concealment, and placement of the shipments.\n\n\n

    Actions and arrests<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\nAmong those arrested are employees and contracted personnel of the Caucedo Multimodal Port<\/strong>, who used their access to facilitate the entry, manipulation, and exit of the contaminated containers.\n\nThe authorities seized recent shipments, such as the 125.81 kilos of cocaine<\/strong> found on August 29, 2025, and the 120 packages<\/strong> seized in August of the same year, both in containers tampered with by members of the network.\n\nThe Public Ministry assures that the case has documentary, electronic and testimonial evidence<\/strong>, and that it is one of the “most infiltrated” internal drug trafficking operations within a port terminal in recent years.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Santo Domingo.\u2013 The Public Ministry revealed new details about the criminal structure linked to former councilman Francisco Alberto Paulino Castro, alias \u201cFrancis\u201d or \u201cEl Compadre\u201d, accused of operating a network dedicated to international drug trafficking, money laundering, and contamination of containers in the Caucedo Multimodal Port. According to the coercion measure, the organization took advantage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":492161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[40216],"tags":[21863],"class_list":["post-492160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dominican-news","tag-puerto-caucedo"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phj1q1-2424","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/11\/desarticula-estructura-criminal-narcotrafico-90b1b97c-focus-0-0-1200-675.webp","dum_api":{"author_name":"Redacci\u00f3n De \u00daltimo Minuto","author_image":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cropped-logo-de-ultimo-minuto-96x96.png","categories_name":["Dominican News"],"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cdn.deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/11\/desarticula-estructura-criminal-narcotrafico-90b1b97c-focus-0-0-1200-675.webp"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}