DR: Authorities find boat with 14 skeletons and illicit substances

Dominican Forces with the Shipwreck, Aug 7, 2024 Photo: ARD

August 7, 2024 Hour: 10:29 pm

The Dominican Republic Navy assured that the investigations will continue in collaboration with the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Dominican authorities found a boat off the coast of the northern municipality of Río San Juan on Tuesday with 14 skeletons and a backpack containing 12 packages of a substance, presumably cocaine or heroin.

The Dominican Republic Navy announced in a statement that the bodies are coming from Senegal and Mauritania.

He added that the seized substance was handed over to the National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD) for appropriate procedures.

Navy spokesman, ship captain Junior Santos Lora, reported that it was a 40-foot boat, an unusual vessel in Dominican waters.

El presidente de la Dirección Nacional de Control de Drogas (DNCD), vicealmirante José M. Cabrera Ulloa, felicitó la actuación de los agentes que rechazaron ser sobornados por dos hombres que les ofrecieron 50 mil de pesos a cambio de que se les permitiera operar un punto de… pic.twitter.com/mq2ZDpEFD2
— Noticias RNN (@NoticiasRNN) August 7, 2024

The president of the National Directorate of Drug Control (DNCD), Vice Admiral José M. Cabrera Ulloa, congratulated the actions of the agents who refused to be bribed by two men who offered them 50 thousand pesos in exchange for being allowed to operate a drug point in the municipality of Jarabacoa, province of La Vega.

Santos pointed out that, for illegal trips, the boats that are usually used from the Dominican Republic are yolas, which have less than 30 feet in length.