Saturday, the 4th Infantry Brigade of the Dominican Army, based in Mao Valverde has arrested, near the community of Aguas de La Palma, in the province of Montecristi, 270km north-west of Santo Domingo, a group of 74 Haitian illegal [62 men, ten women and two children], which was at aboard a minibus of the company "Xpreso Liniero" which serves the route Dajabón Santiago de los Caballeros.

Minibus driver and his accomplice of Dominican origin, were arrested and will be prosecuted for trafficking of illegal migrants. Every Haitian, according to testimony gathered, would have paid77 U.S. dollars to be smuggled into the territory of the neighboring Republic. The 74 Haitian migrants were handed over to immigration authorities and will be returned to Haiti after the normal formalities.

Dominican authorities have stated that they had recently received, of information about an increase in the trafficking of illegal migrants from Haiti, particularly in North-West of the Dominican Republic, but also in other border regions.

HL/ HaitiLibre