Following arrest warrants issued by Me María Consuelo Valenzuela Pérez, judge of the Office of Permanent Attention of the judicial district of Barahona, 12 Haitian nationals are behind bars. They are accused of having obtained Dominican nationality through the fraudulent use of birth certificates, copies of identity cards and false passports.

The arrests took place in the communities of Vicente Noble and Tamayo (Province of Barahona) as part of a coordinated effort between the Public Ministry and the Department of the Dominican National Police (PND) to investigate forgeries.

The intelligence and investigation work that led to their arrests was carried out by the Security Directorate of the Central Electoral Commission (JCE) for about four months through a team deployed in the aforementioned municipalities, with the aim of dismantling the counterfeiting structure that operated in this area.

The JCE Security Directorate continues to support the Public Ministry and National Police in investigations of others involved in the case, from Bávaro, National District, La Romana, Santo Domingo, Yaguate, of Baní, Ocoa and Barahona.

Let's recall that the current management of the JCE has carried out 5 national operations to dismantle networks dedicated to identity theft and falsification of documents, which have resulted in several dozen arrests and four convictions so far two of 5 years and two of 3 years at the expense of 3 Haitian citizens and 1 Dominican citizen.

It should be noted that identity theft in the Dominican Republic is a crime punishable by penalties ranging from 3 to 10 years, in accordance with the provisions of articles 147 and 148 of the Penal Code. In addition, Law 8-92 relating to the identity and electoral card (Cedula), provides for penalties of six months to two years in prison for those who hold and use an identity card belonging to another person in its articles 8 and 14.4.

SL/ HaitiLibre