Dominican prosecutors and agents found 3,004 packages of suspected marijuana wrapped in aluminium foil in 115 boxes inside a container at the Port of Haina Oriental on 1 May 2025.[1] The DNCD called it the largest plant-drug haul ever seized in the country.[1] The cargo manifest described the container’s contents as cat litter, and DNCD spokesman Carlos Devers said intelligence alerts led to an X-ray inspection that showed suspicious images.[1] The load weighed 6,740 pounds, about 3,057 kilograms.[2]

The national forensics institute, INACIF, confirmed the substance was marijuana of the illegal-market variant known as cripy.[2] Fiscales and agents raided a home in Residencial Garden City II in Villa Mella, Santo Domingo Norte, arresting three men and one woman described as linked to an international trafficking structure.[3] Authorities were actively seeking José Francisco Acosta de la Rosa as one of the cargo’s consignees.[1] Dominican officials said the drug was supposedly loaded at Puerto Santo Tomás de Castilla, and copies of the customs paperwork were handed to Guatemalan authorities.[4]

Guatemala’s anti-narcotics deputy minister, Claudia Palencia, said her country was working with Spain and with the Ministerio Público to establish whether the drug left Guatemala or was contaminated in another port before reaching Spain.[4] Palencia said the inquiries would reach public employees at the ports and airports to establish whether they were involved in drug trafficking.[4] The Ministerio Público’s Fiscalía contra Delitos de Narcoactividad opened an investigation of its own and requested information from several institutions.[4] The state port company Empornac said it had not been notified of any investigation involving its staff, and it cited international security certifications and coordination with K9 units, container-control and customs bodies.[4] Congressman Héctor Aldana said two of the shipments reached the Dominican Republic with drugs and that another with drugs left for Madrid a few days earlier.[4] The deputy said the government would sign agreements to tighten port controls, starting with Puerto Quetzal in the coming weeks.[4]

Investigators said the Haina container was sealed in Guatemala and the seal matched the one that arrived at the Dominican port.[3] DNCD president José Cabrera Ulloa said only 76 of the container’s 194 boxes held the goods the importer had bought in Guatemala, while the other 118 were full of marijuana.[3] Guatemala’s interior minister, Francisco Jiménez, rejected the claim that the drug had left Guatemala and called the Dominican statements irresponsible.[3]