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Two Drug Fugitives Wanted in United States Among 44 Dominican Migrants Detained in Puerto Rico

By Frank Griffiths Associated Press Writer
Published: Apr 25, 2005

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Two fugitives wanted on drug charges in the United States were among 44 Dominican migrants detained in Puerto Rico early Monday, officials said.
One of them is wanted in New York while the other is wanted in Pennsylvania, said Xavier Morales, a Border Patrol spokesman. The federal agency had contacted authorities in both states to determine whether the pair will be extradited. He declined to provide their identities or further details.

They were among 44 migrants - 28 men and 16 women - detained along a highway in the north-coast town of Manati, Morales said. A total of about 170 illegal migrants departed Saturday from the Dominican Republic's east coast crammed into a 40-foot (12-meter) boat. They arrived in Puerto Rico around dawn Monday.

"The vessel was like Noah's Ark, with a deep bottom and high side walls," Morales said. About 130 migrants escaped and Border Patrol agents searched for them in Manati, 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of the U.S. Caribbean territory's capital, San Juan.

Among the migrants detained were another three who had already served out prison terms - mostly on drug convictions in the United States, Morales said.

The detained migrants were processed and it was not clear how many would appear before a U.S. immigration judge or be repatriated.

Nearly 3,000 migrants - mostly Dominicans - have been detained attempting to reach wealthier Puerto Rico since Oct. 1, the start of the 2005 fiscal year, the U.S. Coast Guard says. Last year, authorities detained 8,404 illegal migrants.

The Dominican Republic, a Spanish-speaking nation of 8.8 million people, has been in economic crisis over the past two years, though there have been signs of improvement in recent months.