Suspect Terence De Vries (centre) gave up his opposition to extradition to the Netherlands.
AMSTERDAM/SANTO DOMINGO--The Dominican authorities have now extradited Dutch citizen Terence Ángelo Richard De Vries to the Netherlands. Local media previously reported that he had given up his opposition to extradition.
De Vries is suspected of being involved in a drug case called “Hard Rock”. Curaçaoan and alleged leader of the criminal group No Limit Soldiers (NLS), Urvin “Nuto” Wawoe is said to be involved. Both are suspected of drug-trafficking and money-laundering.
The suspect was transferred to Las Américas International Airport JFPG under an extensive security operation consisting of elite, tactical and response units of the drug control organisation Dirección Nacional de Control de Drogas (DNCD), who handed the fugitive over to four high-ranking Dutch officials who received him at the terminal.
De Vries, now in the hands of the authorities of his own country, was sentenced in absentia to five years and six months in prison by the criminal chamber of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal on January 26, 2018, and this conviction was confirmed by the Supreme Court on October 8, 2019.
The Dutchman was arrested on the roof of an apartment in the Dominican Republic last April when he tried to escape from the authorities.
Dennis Goedee and “Nuto” Wawoe from Curaçao were also arrested during this joint operation. Both are currently in custody and will be extradited later.
The arrest and subsequent extradition of the fugitive Dutchman De Vries are a sign of the strengthening of the international cooperation the Dominican Republic maintains with allied countries in the fight against drug-trafficking, organised crime, money-laundering and cross-border crimes, according to Dutch authorities.
