SANTO DOMINGO.- Foreigners seem able to do what they please in Dominican Republic and are frequently involved in crimes. Whether to flee from justice in their country, or as headquarters continue operating the foreigners, including those of the worst ilk, have chosen what’s become a "paradise" for crime, says newspaper Diario Libre.

Colombians linked to kidnappings, Africans swindle people with the promise to multiply, with witchcraft, the money given them, Russians who use the country as a bridge to traffic people to the United States, a Venezuelan gang of burglars and muggers and even pedophiles are some of the most scandalous cases, the publication says.

It said the recent underworld-style murders near Baní (south), six foreigners Police say are linked to drug trafficking or the millions seized from the Benítez brothers, reveals the mass presence of international criminals in the Dominican Republic.

“Just in 2007 the Dominican and the International Police (INTERPOL) and authorities pursued 37 foreigners who were linked to bank failures, swindles, sabotage and drug trafficking, and that was suspected had entered the country using false names or private airplanes posing as foreign investors,” and notes that as far back as October, 2006 the German magazine Der Spiegel published a report which said the country was a refuge for many German criminals who are now fugitives.

As recent as December an Italian senator denounced that gangsters from his country made investments here, Libre says, and also mentions the most recent cases; that of the three Benítez brothers, from Cuba, wanted in the U.S. for allegedly defrauding the United States Medicare out of US$110 million and who according to the confiscations had millions in investments.

“In a similar case, the FBI and Dominican authorities detained six Cubans July 2004, accused of swindling 20 million dollars also from Medicare. Rubén Martinez, Edith Martinez, Adriana Branches, Daniel Ramos, Daniel Martinez and Giraldy González formed that group, which according to investigators had at least eight local bank accounts,” it says.

It also reports a case in 2003, when a Chilean posing as an investor stole more than 10 million pesos from a group of engineers, who accepted a payment with bad checks.

“A National Statistic Office report in March revealed that from 2002 to 2005 more than 800 foreigners were prosecuted on drug charges, and there are also foreigners in child prostitution and abuse are also frequent,” it said.

Moreover, it cites a Government Commission Against Child Abuse and Sexual Exploitation of 2003, which found that 65 percent of the molestation cases in Boca Chica and Puerto Plata are committed by foreigners. “One of the most scandalous cases in that type of crime was that of a group of Spaniards arrested in 2006, charged with being part of a network of child prostitution on the Internet. The group came to the country as simple visitors and operated in tourist areas.”