Thirty-five prosecutors and more than 500 officers from various state agencies participated.
The Public Prosecutor's Office launched Operation Atlantic as part of its actions against pimping, commercial sexual exploitation, and migrant smuggling, which include the creation of a special prosecutor's office based in Sosúa after several weeks of investigation by a multi-agency team that delved into intelligence work and the security profile of the entire municipality.
The operation, carried out through the Specialized Prosecutor's Office against Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants and the Puerto Plata Prosecutor's Office with the support of the General Directorate of Prosecution, involved 35 prosecutors and more than 500 officers from different state agencies.
The teams carried out 29 raids and searched 12 boarding houses with more than 250 rooms. They also raided 17 establishments selling alcoholic beverages in separate operations, finding 174 women, including six minors, and 22 men, along with weapons and other evidence related to the crimes under investigation.
“Operation Atlantic has several phases; it goes beyond an interdiction operation,” highlighted Attorney General Yeni Berenice Reynoso.
He indicated that the operation involves a broader strategy that led the Superior Council of the Public Ministry to approve the opening of a special prosecutor's office.
“This prosecutor’s office will have as its main objective to maintain the actions deployed, the functional direction of all investigations in the field of pimping, trafficking in persons, commercial sexual exploitation, illicit trafficking of migrants and sale of narcotic drugs,” he said.
The operation is part of an action plan focused on the municipality of Sosúa, in which the following entities participate: the Attorney General's Office, the Ministry of the Interior and Police, the Ministry of Defense, the National Police, the National Directorate for Drug Control (DNCD), the General Directorate of Migration (DGM), the Dominican Republic Army, the National Council for Children and Adolescents (Conani), the National Directorate for Children, Adolescents and Families (Dinnaf), the Special Division for the Investigation of Transnational Crimes (Deide) and the Tourist Police.
Second phase
The second phase of the operation includes opening a special prosecutor's office in Sosúa dedicated, first and foremost, to combating pimping, commercial sexual exploitation, and the sale of narcotic drugs.
It will also focus on permanent joint patrols, interdictions and targeted efforts against the sale of narcotics, the creation of the Inter-institutional Coordination Table for Security and Sustainable Development Initiatives of Sosúa, among other important initiatives.
