PUERTO RICO: Justice Department assigns 25 agents to fight corruption

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Prompted by a jump in public fraud cases and
recent arrests of police on drug charges, the Puerto Rican Justice
Department said it will create a team of 25 agents to track down corruption.

Another 25 will be added by 2000, Puerto Rico's El Nuevo Dia newspaper on
Monday quoted Justice Secretary Jose Fuentes Agostini as saying.

Prosecutors filed 1,460 corruption cases in fiscal 1997, an increase over
the previous year's total of 1,171, he said.

The announcement followed the arrest last week of eight police and a Puerto
Rico Ports Authority worker on charges they protected drug smugglers
bringing cocaine from Vieques, an island off Puerto Rico's east coast.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Police thwart smugglers, seize 500 kilograms of cocaine

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) - Drug agents seized a shipment of
almost 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of cocaine during a raid on smugglers
on Dominican Republic's southern coast, police reported Monday.

Agents arrested seven people - two Dominicans, a Nicaraguan and four
Colombians, the National Drug Control Directorate said. It would not
release their names, saying it would jeopardize its investigation.

Police said they caught the smugglers Sunday as they neared the coastal
town of Azua in a 500-horsepower speedboat carrying 400 packages of cocaine.

Four of the smugglers were on board; the other three were waiting onshore
to help unload the shipment, police said.

GUYANA: Government must cooperate on witness protection, official says

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) - Guyana cannot afford its own witness protection
program and must back a multi-nation proposal if it wants proposed
money-laundering legislation to work, Cabinet Secretary Roger Luncheon said.

Luncheon told reporters Saturday the Guyanese government should be ready to
file a new bill against money laundering in Parliament by July. The measure
will probably require banks to report large transactions to the government.

Protecting informants is key to the legislation, he said. But with a
population of only 706,000, Guyana would probably have to send criminals to
other countries in order to hide them.

Unless Caribbean countries work out a witness-exchange program, that would
be too expensive, Luncheon said. ``The biggest hangup is cost,'' he said.
 

HAITI: Authorities still detaining Russian ship

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - More than two weeks after it was detained for
transport of illegal narcotics, Haitian authorities have not yet given a
Russian ship clearance to depart, a port authority official said Monday.

Emmanuel Rosme, port authority lieutenant, said clearance could not be
given until his office had received an official authorization. He was
unable to say why the authorization was delayed.

The vessel Professor Vladimir Popov was detained in the capital port April
23, when the Haitian and U.S. Coast Guards found 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds)
of cocaine and dlrs 2,820 in the possession of second assistant captain
Alexander Pavlov. The drugs and money were handed over to the Haitian
anti-narcotics bureau, said Haitian Coast Guard commander Leon Charles.
 
 

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