(CNN Spanish) -
A Dominican Republic government official is among those detained by the authorities this Wednesday during the so-called Operation Falcón, an investigation that persecutes a network accused of drug trafficking and money laundering, according to the Public Ministry.
The authorities identified the official as Juan Maldonado Castro, reported the Attorney General's Office.
Maldonado Castro is the head of the General Directorate of the Digna Community, a government institution that seeks to improve the living conditions of the most vulnerable groups, and was a deputy for the province of El Seibo between 2006 and 2010.
His wife, Faustina Guerrero Cabrera, is currently a deputy for El Seibo for the ruling Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM).
CNN tried to communicate with the deputy, but this Thursday she did not attend the Lower House.
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Just hours after the arrest of Maldonado Castro, the president of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, announced that he had suspended him from office and reiterated that "there are no more sacred cows in the country."
As of this Thursday, CNN has not been able to make contact with Maldonado or his legal representatives.
"I promised this country that there would be no impunity, I promised that in this country there would be a Public Minister who would act whoever falls, and that is what is being exercised in this country," said the leader.
On the other hand, the Public Ministry indicated that it is also investigating Héctor Darío Féliz Féliz, deputy of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) for the province of Pedernales, for allegedly helping one of those arrested in the operation to evade justice.
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Féliz said this Thursday that he has nothing to hide and that "every chelito that has entered my account, I have a way to prove it."
"The aforementioned legislator is under investigation and was not arrested early today for the sole reason that he has (parliamentary) immunity and this immunity prevents the Public Ministry from proceeding to arrest," said Yeni Berenice, general director of Persecution of the Ministry Public.
Féliz said he is willing to waive his immunity so that the case can be clarified and the investigation completed.
Berenice reported that the case will be heard in the Supreme Court of Justice for his capacity as legislator.
The Prosecutor's Office detailed that among the 11 detainees there are several linked to crimes in the United States and requested in extradition.
The authorities reported that they carried out more than 80 raids between Santo Domingo and Santiago.
They noted that the investigation took months and had the international cooperation of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The Prosecutor's Office indicated this Thursday that it is an open investigation and did not rule out that more people are arrested.
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The General Directorate of Persecution of the Public Ministry said that those involved in the dismantled drug trafficking network created a “powerful structure of organized crime, which has operated systematically and under a typical scheme of transnational criminal organizations, linked to mega drug trafficking operations. whose command, control and money laundering center was the province of Santiago ”.
The authorities indicated that the alleged network operated in the northern part of the Dominican Republic, especially in the city of Santiago, but with ramifications in the eastern region of the country.
The Public Ministry maintains that according to its investigations, those involved were engaged in laundering money as an illicit result and profit for mobilizing large shipments of drugs from South America, especially from Colombia and Venezuela, to the Dominican Republic, in order to take them to the continental United States, Puerto Rico and Europe, "using speedboats, sports boats (double bottom), fishing boats and containers."
Dominican laws indicate that the detainees must be presented before a judge within the next 48 hours after their arrest for the knowledge of measures of coercion.
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