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For a start the island had a little problem with escaped convicts running loose and a spot of drug trafficking up the beach ways.
The fourteen escapees who had all shared the same cell in the Monte Plata jail has used a tunnel that joined the cell with the rainwater drainage system. By the time we left seven had been recaptured and police were giving assurances that Rolando Florißn FΘliz, one of the country's most notorious drug traffickers, who said to be in the prison, did not participate in the escape.
Such lively activity will have little impact on the growth of tourism on the island, particularly UK tourism. In a recent newspaper article a Thomsons spokesman said: "I can now get people to the Dominican Republic for almost the same price as a holiday on the Med, the gloves are off." Despite its local problems the place stands a very good chance of becoming the Costa Del Sol with palm trees - watch out for the roaming chimps. | |
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Meanwhile it seemed that the Direcci≤n Nacional de Control de Drogas, the country's drug laws enforcement agency, were doing a little better than their friends running the prisons. They reported that they had seized a boat docked at an island just offshore from Boca Chica with 351 packages of cocaine weighing 388.9 kilograms on board. They believe the boat came from Colombia.