PGR inspects in Punta Cana houses of Samark López Bello considered front man of Tareck El Aissami
The Dominican Attorney General’s Office (PGR) reported on Sunday that together with the local anti-narcotics agency in the province of La Altagracia (east) a search operation of an “international fugitive” of Venezuelan origin accused of belonging to a drug trafficking network.
The Special Attorney for Anti-Money Laundering, accompanied by the National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD) and federal agents of the United States, simultaneously searched, by court order, two villas of an exclusive tourist complex in the community of Verón, Punta Cana, alleged property of the Venezuelan Samark José López Bello, who in addition to drug trafficking is accused of committing several crimes in the United States.
The Attorney General’s Office added, through a press release, that during the operation, executed by order of the Judicial District of La Altagracia province, four people were detained for investigation purposes, identified as Armando J. Leiva and Carmen J. Pinto. Leiva, both of Venezuelan nationality, as well as the Colombians María Eugenia Rojas and Karol V. Gutiérrez Nieve.
According to sources, Lopez’s wife and two children had been staying in that house for several months.
In the intervention, $ 25,000 and 18,000 euros, three all-terrain vehicles, as well as more than 30 watches of different brands, precious garments, documents and other evidence, which are in the possession of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, were preliminarily occupied.
The authorities indicated that they broaden the investigation process, while informing that as the investigations progress, more details would be offered in relation to the case.
Two years ago, the US Treasury Department announced a series of economic sanctions against Venezuela’s then Vice President Tareck El Aissami for playing a “significant” role in the international narcotics trade.
The measures were also applied to Venezuelan businessman Lopez Bello, whom US authorities consider the “frontman” of El Aissami.
They resulted in the freezing of tens of millions of dollars in assets in the United States, according to that opportunity reported the authorities of that country.
Therefore, the authorities believe that Samark López is also linked to Maduro and leading figures of Chavez. According to the Peruvian journalist Jaime Bayly, Samark and El Aissami acquired, paying 18 million dollars in cash, a mansion in Punta Cana in which the dictator could go into exile.
In the area where Dominican authorities reported the raids, it is one of the most expensive in the entire complex of Punta Cana.
With Accent information.
