Dominican drug lords do light time in US, come home to wealth: Report

Santo Domingo.- Top drug trafficking figures who’ve beenextradited to the US are soon back in the country and immediately seek torecover their ill-gotten assets once on Dominican soil, diariolibre.com reports.

It cites the case of RamonAntonio del Rosario Puente (Toño Leña), deported after being held during sixyears in Puerto Rico, and has sought to reclaim his property which had beenseized and others identified as his.

A similar case isthat of Arismendy Almonte José Peña, "Joselito.com," deported fromthe US after serving a one seven-year sentence for drug trafficking in PuertoRico. He managed to obtain an order to return 17 shops that were seized fromhim in Santiago.

Former Army captainQuirino Paulino returned in March after being held since 2005 in a US prison,where he pleaded guilty to trafficking more than three tons of cocaine, and hasdemanded the return of property andmoney.

In July, the brothersLuis David Ulloa and Jean Paul Ulloa, extradited 10 years ago for their link toPaulino´s drug trafficking network, have filed court proceedings for the returnof nine apartments at the upscale Malecon Center among other properties andcash.

Former NationalPolice colonel Lidio Arturo Nin Terrero and Quirino´s truck driver Tirso Cuevas Nin have demanded the return of assessarguing that the sentence which ordered their extradition didn’t include the confiscationof their property.

Meanwhile MartiresPaulino Castro already obtained the return of more than RD$500 million inassets such as villas, homes, lots, apartments, farms and shops and 25 motorvehicle, seized following a drug trafficking conviction leading to his extradition.