15 marijuana packages seized in transit at Las Américas airport
DNCD agents, prosecutors and airport security officers seized 15 packages of suspected marijuana with a preliminary weight of 18 pounds (about 8.16 kg) from a cardboard box that arrived from the United States with a California sender address and a Miami destination on its manifest. No arrests were reported, and the Public Ministry and the DNCD opened an investigation into the transit shipment.
🇩🇴 Aeropuerto Internacional de Las Américas, Boca Chica, Santo Domingo · Dominican Republic
Cannabis
8.165 kg
Agencies
Dirección Nacional de Control de Drogas (DNCD), Cuerpo Especializado de Seguridad Aeroportuaria (CESAC) +1
Agents of the National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD), prosecutors and airport
security officers seized 15 packages of suspected marijuana at Las Américas
International Airport in Boca Chica, Santo Domingo province.[1]The Public
Ministry and the DNCD were investigating the shipment, and no arrests were
reported.[1]
A canine unit alerted officers to controlled substances inside a cardboard box
that had arrived from the United States.[1]Working under a prosecutor’s
direction, the teams opened the box and found 15 packages wrapped in transparent
plastic bags.[1]The packages had a preliminary weight of 18 pounds (about
8.16 kg), according to the DNCD statement.[2]
The manifest listed the sender at an address in Elkhorn, Sacramento, California,
and the final destination as a supposed company in Miami, United States.[1]The box was in transit through the Dominican Republic, according to the
manifest.[1]The operation was carried out with the Public Ministry and the
Specialized Airport Security Corps (CESAC).[2]The DNCD said it was
intensifying interdiction at airports, ports, borders and other points in the
country.[1]
Photos and video
The 15 packages of suspected marijuana found in a cardboard box at Las Américas airport, in the DNCD handout photo. Photo: DNCD via Listín Diario.Photo details
The reports give no separate date for the inspection; 6 February 2026 is the publication date and is used as the incident date.
The 18-pound weight is preliminary, and no laboratory confirmation of the material or final certified weight was published.
No arrests, charges or court outcome were reported; the Public Ministry and the DNCD said they were investigating.
No value was published for the seized packages.
The sender and recipient are identified only by addresses on the cargo manifest, not by name.
The same Diario Libre article reports a separate cocaine seizure of 14 packages at the same airport the previous day; that non-cannabis event is left out here.
Both accounts reproduce the same DNCD press note, so the details rest on the agency's statement.
The National Police said 28 people were detained in a preventive sweep across La Vega province on 30 October 2026, alongside soldiers and DNCD drug agents. Police reported 108 portions of suspected marijuana and eight knives, but gave no weight for the drug and no grounds for the detentions.
The DNCD reported seizing 11,065.01 kg of marijuana and 16.44 kg of hashish between April and June 2026, part of 16,671.16 kg of all drugs in its second-quarter statistical summary. The same operations produced 12,548 detentions, most of them in June, when San José de Ocoa accounted for 7,789.97 kg of marijuana.
Dominican anti-drug agents seized 11 packages of suspected marijuana hidden inside a bench seat shipped from Miami to Las Américas airport in Boca Chica. No arrests were reported, and the material was sent to the national forensics institute while prosecutors investigate those responsible and the shipment's destination.
Three Dominicans were detained off Baní after a 15-hour air-sea-land pursuit intercepted a 32-foot boat carrying 1,360 suspected cocaine packages and 30 blocks of apparent marijuana. The DNCD-led operation with US and Colombian support sent the 1,390 packages for forensic analysis, with the network investigation still open.
