Santo Domingo.- The National Police and the Armed Forces security bodies have announced the installation of a Special Unit of plainclothes and uniformed agents and soldiers at Las Americas International Airport, to counteract the wave of robberies targeting arriving international passengers.

Following a meeting held at the airport on Friday, General Lodwing Suardi Correa, National Police commander for the Eastern Zone, representing Police Chief Major General José Armando Polanco Gómez, said that the Specialized Unit would work round the clock to protect travelers after they leave the airport towards the capital.  

The announcement follows the United States embassy’s warning to its citizens in the Dominican Republic about the need to take security measures upon leaving the airport due to the spate of robberies. The General said that the unit, which will be based at the airport, would have the necessary personnel and equipment, and their task would not just involve preventing attacks on travelers but also intelligence work aimed at detecting the members of criminal gangs.

Suardi Correa said that the authorities did not exclude the possibility that airport employees might be acting as contacts for the thieves operating on the Las Americas highway.

The high-ranking National Police official said that the initiative was being backed by other organizations as well as the executives of the Dominican Airports Consortium XXI (Aerodom), for the adoption of more effective measures against the robberies targeting passengers.