Former U.S. Embassy Employee Extradited To Face Charges For Cocaine Importation Conspiracy

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, and Special Agent in Charge of the Newark Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”), Michael McCarthy, announced today that JAIRO ELIEZER ARIAS CACERES, a former employee of the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, was extradited from the Dominican Republic in connection with the unsealing of an Indictment charging ARIAS CACERES with conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States.  ARIAS CACERES will make his initial appearance later today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert W. Lehrburger.  The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Gregory H. Woods. 

“Jairo Eliezer Arias Caceres allegedly orchestrated a cocaine smuggling scheme while employed as a security officer at our U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic and as a former security officer at the airport in Santo Domingo,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton.  “While Arias Caceres was supposed to be protecting our diplomats and embassy staff from danger, he was allegedly busy endangering New Yorkers by pumping illegal drugs into our community.  Abuse of a position of national trust to traffic in deadly narcotics shocks the sensibilities of New Yorkers and the women and men of our office are committed to bringing those who abuse that trust to justice.”

“The charges against Jairo Arias Caceres are the result of an extensive investigation into a significant narcotics importation conspiracy, led by our Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST),” said HSI Newark Special Agent in Charge Michael S. McCarthy.  “In coordination with HSI Santo Domingo and multiple federal partners, this investigation successfully dismantled a sophisticated trafficking network responsible for moving dangerous narcotics from the Dominican Republic into the United States.  HSI remains committed to protecting the American public by targeting and disrupting the transnational criminal organizations that seek to bring illicit drugs into our communities.”

As alleged in the Indictment and other court filings:[1]

Since at least in or about April 2023 through at least in or about December 2023, ARIAS CACERES—while employed as a security officer by the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic—operated a transnational conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States.  ARIAS CACERES devised a scheme through which couriers smuggled cocaine into various airports in the New York area by disguising the cocaine in the packaging of items purchased from the Santo Domingo Airport Duty Free store.  Photographs of some of the several cocaine seizures linked to ARIAS CACERES are below:

Before working for the U.S. Embassy, where he was employed from 2018 through 2025, ARIAS CACERES also worked for at least seven years as security officer at the Santo Domingo Airport.  ARIAS CACERES exploited his former positions of authority at the Embassy and the Airport in order to operate this narcotics importation scheme.

The defendant was in charge of several aspects of the scheme.  He helped to recruit couriers, paid for and arranged their travel to and from the Dominican Republic, and organized the logistics of the couriers’ receipt of cocaine from other airport employees.  For each of the couriers, the defendant was their main point of contact before, during, and after their smuggling trips to and from the Dominican Republic.

*                *                *

ARIAS CACERES, 35, of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, is charged with one count of conspiracy to import narcotics into the U.S., which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The minimum and maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by a judge.

Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding investigative work of HSI New York; the New York Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration; HSI Santo Domingo; the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) Strategic Partnership for Enforcement and Analytical Response Port of New York/New Jersey; CBP’s Air & Marine Operations; and the U.S. Marshals Service Office of International Operations, Dominican Republic Foreign Field Office.

The Justice Department's Office of International Affairs provided substantial assistance in securing the arrest and extradition to the United States of CACERES. 

This prosecution is part of an OCDETF operation.  OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles criminal organizations using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.  Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

This case is being handled by the Office’s Narcotics Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jackie Delligatti and Katherine Cheng are in charge of the prosecution.

The charges in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.