Sentenced To Three Months Preventive Custody In Dominican Republic

Preventive Custody? What's that?

A judge in La Romana in the Dominican Republic sentenced two pilots transporting more than 72 pounds of pure cocaine in their light aircraft to three months of "preventive" custody, okay, prison, reports Dominican Today.

The drugs, packed into two bags and divided into 14 and 16 packets, were discovered when the private plane landed in La Romana's airport en route to Puerto Rico. The plane had taken off from Santo Domingo's El Higüero Airport.

Also taken from the plane were US $4,900, four cell phones, one laptop computer "containing information of interest to the National Drug Control Department (DNCD), and personal documents.

The pilots, one Dominican and one Argentinean, were transferred to DNCD headquarters will they will be questioned by US DEA officials.

DNCD spokesman Roberto Lebrón said the investigators were looking to identify the owner of the shipment; the pilots had been summoned to the DNCD's chief's office with that in mind.

"We have information that (the Dominican pilot) Polanco Ríos had been involved in transporting suspicious material for some time", said Lebrón. He said that the pilots would be sent back to La Romana prison after being questioned.

FMI: http://airport.u.nu/LRM , www.costasur.com.do/airportEn.htm, www.gksoft.com/govt/en/do.html