Alleged members of powerful drug trafficking network face arraignment

Santo Cristobel, Dominican Republic.- A San Cristobal judgewill arraign today Thursday the members of an international drug traffickingnetwork allegedly led by Jose Miguel Ceballos Rosario “El Viajero” (TheTraveler), who’s been linked to the March 10, 2008, murder of Army 1stLt. Guillermo A. Tejeda Krawinkel.

Ceballos is the ringleader of the network from which 333kilos of cocaine was seized in Haina in early April and which Jose AntonioNovas Solano and Rodolfo Rosa Alvarez were sent to 18 months of detention toawait trial.

The San Cristobal (south) court will also rule on theprosecution’s request of pretrial detention against Ceballos’ wife, VivianaCastillo Turbi and Rosario Altagracia Guzman, Francisco Javier Cordero andErick Jose Perez, arrested in Santo Domingo and Santiago.

San Cristobal prosecutor Diomeris Soto said the network trafficsdrugs in the region and that Ceballos is the same person who last year requestedthe return of the Nigua block factory, which had been seized in a search whichalso found several exotic birds.

Extradition

Although defense motions have kept the case from going tocourt, Soto warned that Ceballos shouldn’t be extradited to another countrywithout having served out his sentence in the Dominican Republic.

"This man cannot leave this country even if he’srequested (in extradition). This man has to serve a sentence here for all thecrimes he has committed," Soto said, adding that the accused hasthreatened prosecutors.

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