The cash was sent in increments of US$300,000, stuffed inside false-bottom suitcases of travelers flying out of some of the Dominican Republic’s largest airports.
Each month, mules – the nickname for those engaged in trafficking – would smuggle between US$2.5 million and US$12.5 million in illicit narco-trafficking proceeds from the Dominican Republic to Panama, Colombia and Venezuela, authorities said.
The scheme went on for at least five years, allowing a large criminal network, headed by two Colombians, to launder an estimated total of US$350 million, authorities said.
The operation came to a dramatic end when on Dec. 13 the Dominican National Department of Investigations and the Attorney General’s office announced it had arrested at least a dozen suspects and made various seizures.
Authorities seized 20 luxury vehicles, apartments, more than US$1 million in cash, 15 kilograms (33 pounds) of cocaine and various weapons.
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Alternate news link from local news (in Spanish): Golpe al narco