The seizure by Dominican Republic customs of 23 firearms—including assault rifles—along with 36,000 rounds of ammunition and magazines, including a .50 caliber magazine, in transit to Haiti, has led authorities to arms and ammunition traffickers operating on both sides of the border, in Elias Piña and Belladère, in the Central Plateau.

Urbano Eugenio García (Eugenio Trading) and Máximo Pérez Berigüete, the owners of a transport company linked to the attempted shipment of an arsenal of weapons and ammunition to Haiti, were sentenced to one year of preventive detention on Thursday, March 6, Diario Libre reported. One of these two men, Máximo Pérez Berigüete, resides in the municipality of Comendador, in Elias Piña, just 15 kilometers from Belladère.