Dominican Republic orders arrests of more French nationals in ‘Air Cocaine’ case
The Dominican Republic issued an arrest warrant on Sunday against three French nationals. The trio is accused of organising the escape of two French pilots in the “Air Cocaine” drug-trafficking case.
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According to a statement issued by attorney general Francisco Dominguez Brito on Sunday, the arrest warrants “have been issued against Aymeric Chauprade, Christophe Naudin and Pierre Malinowski, after authorities have brought evidence of their alleged involvement in the escape” of the two French pilots.
The Dominican Republic said the investigation has proved the three men were in the country and indicated the different stages of the French pilots escape.
Both, Chauprade, a European Parliament lawmaker, Naudin, a criminologist and aviation security specialist and Malinowski, a far-right parliamentary assistant, have admitted involvement in helping the escape of their two compatriots.
Pascal Fauret and co-pilot Bruno Odos were arrested in March 2013 and given 20-year prison sentence over drug-trafficking charges in August 2014.
In October, the two pilots managed to slip out of the Dominican Republic and returned to France vowing to clear their names.
They were arrested early November in France.
Although the Dominican Republic has issued an international arrest warrant for them, France does not extradite its nationals.
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