NEW YORK.– The trial in Dominican Republic’s largest narcotics case is scheduled to begin in New York South District Federal Court Monday, after several of the main defendants facing charges of money laundering, drug trafficking and conspiracy charges have already decided on plea bargaining with the Federal Prosecutor.

Ex Dominican Police colonel Lidio Arturo Nin could be set free in four years in connection to a drugs network allegedly headed by the ex Dominican Army captain Quirino Paulino, said his lawyer to newspaper El Nacional.

Heriberto A. Cabrera said in the next few months judge Wood could sentence Nin to just 7 years in jail.

The attorney said Nin was facing more than 20 years in prison, “and so now, with this agreement I frankly believe that they’ll be around 7 years total and he’s already been inside three and a half,” he said, in reference to Nin’s time served.

The ex-police colonel was riding in a truck driven by Tirso Cuevas when Dominican (DNCD) and U.S. (DEA) narcotics agents confiscated the vehicle with 1,387 kilos cocaine in the Duarte highway, just north of Santo Domingo, December, 18, 2004.

“The prosecutor (federal) has always been a bit flexible. He knows we have a defense. But, in fact one must think about the good and bad to deciding. That’s what he (Nin) faced. And the sentence he faced in case he was found guilty is very serious, that his life would there inside (in jail),” Cabrera said

He said Nin made the best decision, to plead guilty, and get his sentence lowered by judge Wood, who is expected to begin as early as Monday the trial against Paulino and several of the 22 Dominicans facing the same charges, and if found guilty face sentences of life in prison.

Newspaper Diario Libre, in a report from New York, said the other suspects who decided to plea bargain are Ramón Pérez Ferreras, Juan Cruz Crisóstomo, Richard Peña Mejía, Tirso Cuevas and José Abel Burdíez.

The other suspects are Faustino Perozo, Federico Miranda Hernández, José Ortega de León, Marcos Taveras Jiménez, Luis Eduardo Cordero Rodríguez, Bladimir García Jiménez, Fátima Henríquez Díaz, the twins Luis David y Jean Paul Ulloa, and Juan Samuel Rodríguez Cordero.