Authorities in the Dominican Republic have carried out a major coordinated crackdown on a transnational criminal syndicate smuggling massive volumes of cocaine to consumer markets in the United States and Europe, capping off a multi-year investigation with dozens of raids, large drug seizures and the arrest of one of the network’s top leaders.
Officially dubbed Operation LM2, the enforcement action was a joint effort between the Dominican Public Prosecutor’s Office and the National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD), mobilizing a team of 13 specialized prosecutors and more than 150 trained DNCD law enforcement agents. To cut off escape routes and prevent evidence destruction, the agency carried out simultaneous search operations across three key regions: Greater Santo Domingo, Hato Mayor, and Santiago.
When the dust settled from the raids, investigators had seized 168 packages of contraband confirmed to be cocaine, alongside a haul of illicit assets that included luxury high-end vehicles, a heavy-duty truck, a large sum of undeclared cash, multiple illegal firearms, and reams of documentary evidence linking the assets and suspects to the trafficking operation.
One of the most high-profile captures was José Miguel Ceballos Rosario, widely known by his alias “El Viajero”, who law enforcement officials have named as a key leader of the organized trafficking network. Investigators note that multiple other high-value suspects connected to the ring remain at large, and have issued a public call for these fugitives to turn themselves in through official legal channels to avoid further legal repercussions.
A closer inspection of the syndicate’s operations revealed a sophisticated smuggling concealment strategy: the 168 seized cocaine packages were hidden inside 31 solid metal tubes and bars stored at a compound in Villa Vásquez, Montecristi, which investigators confirmed served as a central collection and processing hub for the network. The site also held hundreds of cardboard boxes, custom cutting and shaping tools, and other specialized materials used to package and hide the illegal drugs before shipment.
According to official investigation briefings, the network regularly moved multi-ton quantities of cocaine to the U.S. and European markets, using two common concealment tactics to evade border inspections: hiding drugs inside shipping boxes with custom-built false bottoms, and embedding contraband within heavy metal structural components. To further launder their operations and avoid suspicion, the syndicate operated both a network of legitimate front companies and untraceable shell corporations, making drug shipments appear to be legal commercial cargo.
Operation LM2 is not an isolated bust: it grew directly out of a long-running investigation that first targeted a connected trafficking cell dismantled during earlier raids in La Vega and Monseñor Nouel. That earlier operation, carried out in 2023, resulted in the seizure of 392 cocaine slabs, three high-powered military-grade rifles, multiple vehicles, and specialized packaging machinery used to hide the drugs.
The full investigation timeline stretches back to July 2023, when authorities first stumbled on the network’s activities during a raid on a rural farm in Jayaco. During that search, they found hundreds of pre-prepared cardboard boxes, dozens of which already had false bottoms holding hidden cocaine. Investigators also executed a search warrant on a private residence in Rincones de La Vega that the syndicate was using as a secondary drug collection center.
That 2023 operation led to the arrest of three core members of the network: Basilio Saturria Mosquea, Danckeline De La Cruz, and José Luis Santana Vargas. All three were prosecuted by the Dominican Public Prosecutor’s Office, and ultimately sentenced to 15 years of prison each by the Collegiate Court of La Vega. The court also ordered the full confiscation of all assets connected to the group’s trafficking activities.