Quirino Paulino Castillo, charged with trafficking almost 1 400 kilos of cocaine into the US.

Quirino Paulino Castillo,charged with trafficking almost 1 400 kilos of cocaine into the US. This has been the biggest drug bust in the history of that country.<br />It has been reported that the group of 20 witnesses were formally notified by the local Ministry of Justice via a diplomatic note received by the DR Ministry of Foreign Relations. According to Nacional news, “Those people have been notified to declare not only in the Quirino case but in cases also being heard related to the Quirino case itself.”Castillo is a former captain of the DR and is allegedly the leader of a major drug trafficking organisation, which was responsible for smuggling tons of cocaine into the US. Castillo’s total assets amassed to somewhere in the neighbourhood of RD$2 billion. The ex-captain was arrested following the confiscation of 1,387 kilos of cocaine linked to him on December 19, 2004. The cocaine had an estimated street value of RD$900 million (approx. US$26 400). He was consequently extradited to the US for hearings of a drug-smuggling case in New Jersey. Castillo’s extradition is the first under a newly adopted criminal code in the DR, and was the result of a joint investigation between the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the DR Government’s National Direction for Drug Control and was sponsored by the US Organised Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.<br /> Meanwhile, during a hearing in the case held Monday 25, the owners of FAMA Shipping, located in Manhattan’s Amsterdam Avenue, Fátima Henríquez Diaz and Jose de Leon Ortega were given an opportunity to air their pleas. Both owners were extradited in connection with the Castillo proceedings.According to Nacional News, US federal prosecutors claimed they “have sufficient evidence that incriminate the defendants”. The trial is to begin on September 2 where the 20-plus witnesses would face the Manhattan’s South District Federal Court.

Quirino Paulino Castillo, charged with trafficking almost 1 400 kilos of cocaine into the US.

Quirino Paulino Castillo,charged with trafficking almost 1 400 kilos of cocaine into the US. This has been the biggest drug bust in the hist...

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Oral Watson leader of a North Jersey narcotics ring with ties to a violent Jamaican drug posse was arrested along with several of his associates

The leader of a North Jersey narcotics ring with ties to a violent Jamaican drug posse was arrested along with several of his associates, including a UPS driver who delivered cocaine for the ring along his Teaneck route, authorities said today. <br />A joint task force led by officers from the gangs units of the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with Elmwood Park police, arrested six members and associates of the drug gang on Thursday. They seized an estimated $200,000 in cocaine, $85,000 cash, a Romanian-made AK-47 assault rifle, a loaded Taurus 9mm. semi-automatic handgun, two luxury cars and $40,000 in jewelry, authorities said.<br />The alleged ringleader, Oral Watson, 31, of Paterson, is being held at the Passaic County Jail on $500,000 bail, said Passaic County Prosecutor James Avigliano.<br />Authorities described Watson as a Jamaican national who moved to New Jersey as a child and became a flamboyant ringleader who threw lavish parties in rented music halls. He owned a 2007 BMW and a 2004 Mercedes that were seized by police and a four-story Paterson home where officers found a closet full of designer clothes and about 300 boxes of shoes belonging to his girlfriend, a telephone company employee who was not arrested in the sweep, authorities said.Watson was arrested as he tried to drive away from a drug stash house in Hackensack, authorities said. His car rammed a police vehicle as he jumped out and fled on foot, said Ricky Rosario, a Passaic County Sheriff's Department detective sergeant and a member of the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office Narcotics Task Force. Watson was arrested after a short chase.<br />Amilcar Caballero-Pardo, 35, of Garfield, a UPS employee for 14 years, was arrested Thursday at a UPS hub in Secaucus, Rosario said. He had been observed delivering drugs, which were hidden inside computers, to Watson along his Teaneck route, Rosario said. Also arrested was Dwight Donald Lewis, 37, an alleged drug gang leader from Paterson, Laura Kida, 39, of Parsippany, Carlos Calle-Munoz, 26, of Dover, and Fabricio Zambrano, 27, of Morristown. All were charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine. <br />The ring distributed drugs out of Morris, Passaic and Bergen counties and has ties to the Shower Posse, a violent drug gang in Jamaica, authorities said

Oral Watson leader of a North Jersey narcotics ring with ties to a violent Jamaican drug posse was arrested along with several of his associates

The leader of a North Jersey narcotics ring with ties to a violent Jamaican drug posse was arrested along with several of his associates, in...

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Fermin Ramos, Alexis Correa

Fermin Ramos, 20, and Alexis Correa, 26, both of Brunswick Street, as well as Gilbert Stackhouse, 43, of Montgomery Street, were arrested on drug charges just before 8 p.m. Monday, reports said. <br />After watching Stackhouse buy drugs from Ramos and Correa, cops stopped him at Montgomery and Monmouth streets and found he had two bags of suspected heroin, reports said. Correa, with eight bags of suspected heroin, was arrested at York and Brunswick streets, reports said. <br />Ramos was busted nearby and found with two bags of PCP, four bags of marijuana, and 33 bags of heroin down the back of his pants, reports said. While being processed, Ramos threatened the officers, saying he would have revenge, officials said.

Fermin Ramos, Alexis Correa

Fermin Ramos, 20, and Alexis Correa, 26, both of Brunswick Street, as well as Gilbert Stackhouse, 43, of Montgomery Street, were arrested on...

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