Santo Domingo.- The Presidency’s adviser on Drugs Marino Vinicio Castillo last night revealed that president Leonel Fernandez ordered the heads of the Armed Forces, the Police and the Drugs Control Agency (DNCD) to conduct a meticulous investigation on the local drug trafficking network operated by the Puerto Rican fugitive Jose Figueroa Agosto, the subject of an unprecedented manhunt.

A RD$1 million reward for information leading to his arrest was also announced Monday morning.

“A coordinated investigation among all military intelligence organisms and the police and the Justice Ministry will have to produce results shortly,” Castillo said, adding that beyond the escape of Figueroa’s alleged paramour Sobeida Feliz, implicated in the US$4.6 million seized from the Puerto Rican fugitive’s network, is absolutely necessary to determine those who helped and protected him, and who are his drug business and money laundering partners in the country.

The official said Fernandez issued the order in a National Palace meeting last week with the heads of the Armed Forces, the Police, the DNCD, and other organisms. “So not only the fugitive’s capture is important, but also to establish his connections and the accomplices who helped him set up an operational base in the Dominican Republic.”

He said Figueroa’s activities, investments and social life took place in the country apparently without anyone realizing who he was. He revealed that his face was a bit different from the photo the FBI provided to the DNCD because the fugitive underwent surgery in a Santo Domingo clinic.

Castillo, interviewed in the Colorvision program Hoy Mismo today Monday, said it was very strange that Figueroa escaped from Puerto Rico and came to do business and social life in the Dominican Republic, which is just 20 minutes by plane from the prison he escaped from at Mayaguez and how he managed to elude capture for so long. “We provided the intel but it often reached the drug trafficker first,” Castillo.

He said the United States, with its specialized units to pursue criminals around the world, since 2007 knew that Figueroa was sending drugs to Puerto Rico from Dominican Republic, as evidenced in the case opened against the ring led by Figueroa’s partner “Angelo Millones” in Puerto Rico.