Santo Domingo.- The Antinarcotics agency (DNCD) on Wednesday announced the arrest of a major, a captain, four lieutenants, a corporal and two privates, charged with forming part of a ring which ripped off drugs from dealers and selling it, together with an Italian, two ex cops and a civilian.

The arrests come in the wake of calls from various sectors for a purge of the DNCD and the National Police, whose agents are increasingly taking part in crimes, mostly involving narcotics, including the detention on sunday of all the members of the entity's precinct in Samana (northeast) for charging a "toll" to traffickers.

DNCD chief Rolando Rosado identified the detainees as Police major Franklin Estévez, Dominican Air Force captain Valentin Marrero, Army first lieutenants Santo Toribio Reyes, and Fred Alberto Mercedes of the Police, as well as the agents Eddison Méndez, Ángelo Calcaño, Luis Rafelín Ciprián and Algeny Joaquin González, of the DNCD precinct in Boca Chica .

In addition, first lieutenant Alberto Rodriguez Marcelino, second lieutenant Manuel Joaquin de Jesus, the privates Francisco Suero and Luiggi Ruiz Mendoza, of the Police.

In a statement the DNCD chief said the ring also included the civilians Virgilio González de Leon (Virgilito), the Italian Enzo Serrapede and the ex agents Andres Julio Cáceres, (El Gordo) and Angel Ovalles (El Aleman).

He said González de Leon was in charge of contacting the drug dealers to be ripped off, while Serrapede posed as the buyer, in addition to being the ring’s contacts with the police agents of the precinct in the Santo Domingo East sector Invivienda.

Investigators determined that on the afternoon of June 29 Estévez, the DNCD antinarcotics inspector in Boca Chica, accompanied by Reyes and other agents of the precinct, detained Radhamés Almánzar Acosta, Domingo Rivera Trinidad and Rafael Hidalgo Garcia in the Santo Domingo East sector La Esperanza, and took 10 kilos of cocaine from them, but were charged with only one.

Rosado said Estévez sold the nine others directly and that the ring had planned a similar rip off for July 16 in the sector Brisas del Este, in Santo Domingo East, which González and Serrapede carried out in the company of other suspects, but were both arrested hours later.

He said RD$476,600 were seized from Serrapede, money which the foreigner claimed he made from the sale of two kilos of cocaine, whereas one kilo was seized from El Gordo, who allegedly received it as payment for his part in the rip off.