SANTO DOMINGO – Dominican authorities said that 95 people were arrested on Saturday, including 12 “known” narcotics distributors, as part of the Christmas Without Drugs operation.

The DNCD drug enforcement agency also said that its agents seized quantities of cocaine, crack, marijuana and drug processing equipment.

Among the group of 12 “known” drug traffickers were Nelson Antonio Perez Arias, Angel Perez Arias, Moises Lachapelle Jimenez, alias “El Block,” and Daniel Martinez Rosario, arrested in the southern city of San Cristobal near Santo Domingo.

Arrested in the capital meanwhile were Juan Gervasio Mella, Deivi Reyes, Angel Manuel Suero Solis, Pedro Cabral Santana, Alfredo Feliz Ruiz, Socrates Israel Ramirez Vargas, Eliseo Perez Batista and Cristian Reyes, among others that the DNCD said it nabbed in the act of committing crimes.

Other arrests were made in San Francisco de Macoris and the northeastern town of Nagua, La Romana and Higuey in the east and Azua in the south.

Local anti-drug authorities said they have managed to make their anti-drug operations more effective in a country considered to be a bridge for getting drugs to the United States and Europe from South America.