US deportees arrested in drug bust

The National Drugs Control Agency ( DNCD ) said it foiled a drug deal in the parking lot of a "pica-pollo" in Los Rosales, Santo Domingo.

According to the DNCD they seized 25 packages "that might be cocaine or heroin" and a pistol. They also arrested five men, two of whom had been deported from the U.S. after serving sentences for drug trafficking.

The arrested men are: Tirson Bueno de la Cruz, 42, a Cuban American; Rigoberto Valdez, 65; Francisco Auriel Pacheco, 59; Catalino Rodr�guez, 42, a Dominican American; Rafael Antonio Molina Reyes, who until yesterday, was an honorary member of the Dominican Air Force .

A spokesman said that the 25 packages were in the back-seat of a Nissan Sentra car and the gun was taken from Molina Reyes. He stated that Rigoberto Valdez Auriel Pacheco served sentences in the United States for drug trafficking and that Bueno de la Cruz had served time in 1998 for possession of cocaine.