Denials, clampdown in Dominican-Venezuela drug scandal

Santo Domingo.- Boththe lawyer of the owners of a villa raided in La Romana (east) on Nov. 13 as wellas the attorney of the owners of a yacht where agents found drugs last week on Mondaydenied that those properties are related to a relative of Venezuela first lady CiliaFlores, EFE reports.

César Núñez, lawyer forthe company Naranjo, owner of the villa located in the resort Casa de Campo,today told CDN that Francisco Flores de Freitas isn’t one of the owners of the villa.

Zechariah Beltre,lawyer for the owners of the yacht raided in Casa de Campo also denied that thenephew of Venezuela´s first lady is linked to property.

The National DrugsControl Agency (DNCD) on Saturday said 53 kilos of cocaine and two of heroin wereon board the boat "The Kingdom."

CDN last week reported thatDominican authorities raided the residence and found more than 80 kilos ofcocaine, though the alleged drug operation has yet to be officially confirmed thusfar.

The outlet then reportedthat the residence was owned by Flores de Freitas, but the authorities have torefer to the information.

The DNCD has kept atight lid on specifics of the case, on which outlet diariolibre.com editorializedthat it´s no surprise that Dominican officials tread lightly given the geopoliticsinvolved,.

On Monday a La Romana (east) court sent four of thesix accused in the "The Kingdom" case to one year of pretrial detentionand released the two others on bail.