GODR EXTRADITES TWO FUGITIVES (TEJADA, RODOLFO AND

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 006424 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CAR (MCISAAC),L/LEI (W FUENTES, GUILANI AND SULLIVAN) JUSTICE FRO CRIM/OIA J. MAZUREK AND R. GOLDMAN US MARSHAL SERVICE PLEASE PASS TO C. DUDLEY E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: CJAN KCRM KFRD PINR SNAR DR SUBJECT: GODR EXTRADITES TWO FUGITIVES (TEJADA, RODOLFO AND ESTEVEZ, FRANCISCO JOSE) REF: A. 02 STATE 097980 ¶B. 01 STATE 187181 ¶1. On November 4, 2003, Rodolfo Tejada and Francisco Jose Estevez were extradited from the Dominican Republic in the company of US Marshals. Tejada is wanted to stand trial on federal narcotics charges. Upon arrival on a flight from Santo Domingo to Miami International Airport, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Officials (then Customs) searched Tejada's bag and found 5,700 MDMA tablets hidden in two compact disc portfolios. Mr. Tejada was arrested, failed to appear at trial and fled to the Dominican Republic. Francisco Jose Estevez pleaded guilty to federal narcotics charges on July 19, 2001, in the Eastern District of New York. He violated the terms of his bail by traveling to the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic's National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD),working with US Marshals and DEA, arrested Tejada in April 2003, and Estevez in June 2003. ¶2. These are the seventh and eighth extraditions by the Dominican Republic in 2003, and the forty-second and forty-third under the administration of President Hipolito Mejia. HERTELL