Jose Figueroa Agosto Arrested
Posted Sat, Jul 17, 2010 by John R. Loomis
Jose Figueroa Agosto, a man who is known as the Pablo Escobar of the Caribbean, was arrested by the federal authorities after almost a decade-long chase. He was suspected to be shipping drugs to the United States mainland through Puerto Rico but was convicted for killing a man he suspected of stealing a shipment of cocaine.
He was driving through a Dominican neighborhood somewhere in San Juan with a wig as his disguise when he was seen by the authorities. When he realized that he was being followed, he immediately tried to escape by running on foot, the same way he escaped the authorities last time during September, but luckily, the drug enforcement agents, U.S. marshals, FBI and the police of Puerto Rico caught up this time.
“We asked him his name, and he simple answered that we knew who he was.” said Antonio Torres, the head of U.S. Marshal Service’s task force in Puerto Rico.
Figueroa migrated to the Dominican Republic and was detained a month after because 2001 drug investigation. However, he was released because of an alias he was using.
How much cocaine Figueroa moved could not be exactly stated by anybody but due to the botched raid of September, an estimate of his empire emerged. The said raid netted several cars, including a Mercedes Benz which is armored and with $4.6 million cash and a laptop full of evidence inside it.
“This had been the Dominican State’s biggest challenge.” This statement was said by Chief Rafael Guillermo Guzman regarding their hunt for Figueroa.
Figueroa was wanted in the Dominican Republic because of kidnapping, drug-trafficking, money-laundering and murder charges. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder pledge himself to give his full cooperation to capture Figueroa because he was also one of the most wanted fugitives in the U.S. His warrant is for his filing a false passport application, prison escape and because he was the one of the major suppliers of illegal drugs in the U.S.
Figueroa uses several aliases, and when the police had a lead on these, they have confiscated six of his properties and one of them is located in the Dominican resort area. It was a million dollar apartment.
Approximately two hours after the capture of Figueroa, President Leonel Fernandez summoned the Dominican officials to a closed door meeting. After the said meeting, they have announced that they will take action against Figuero on Sunday.
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