SANTO DOMINGO.- A debt of US$1 million reportedly led to the August 5 execution of seven Colombians in Dominican Republic’s southwest, that has become a virtual freeway for drug shipments from South America.

A cousin of the former Navy lieutenant, Edward Mayobanex Rodriguez Montero, whom police say was a key player in the killings in Ojo de Agua, Paya municipality, Peravia province, managed to leave the country headed to the United States.

The civilian, identified only as Joan, managed to travel days before the arrest of the group of naval officers implicated in the underworld style executions, in which seven Colombians were shot dead and a Nicaraguan survived, who played dead.

According to sources close to the investigation, the fugitive had a gun the night of the murders, where Rodriguez Montero allegedly began the summary execution, followed by the also naval officer Jorge Luis Chalas.

The fiasco began because of an alleged US$1 million debt the Colombian Darío Jose Atencio Vargas (El Don) had with Luis Lara Martinez (Churro).

According to the investigation Atencio promised Lara to pay the debt with another drug shipment, because supposedly he already had a commitment with the 1,200 kilos of cocaine en route from Colombia. But Lara, alleged "mover" of narcotics and El Don’s "man of confidence," allegedly insisted that his debt had to be settled with the shipment.

The investigation found that the impasse forced Lara to plan a rip off of the drug that came from Colombia, collecting El Don’s debt, for which he contacted Jose Luis Motas (El Duro Motors), who in turn allegedly contacted the naval officers to pull off the rip off for “Churro.”

In that regard, Rodriguez admitted under questioning that in addition to the 1,200 kilos of cocaine, was another "small more little thing behind," consisting of 200 kilos of cocaine.

Once they committed the killings, the group allegedly distributed the drug as payment for the operation and began to look to market the drug, locally and abroad.

The investigation also found that Lara feared that El Don would allegedly try to eliminate him to not pay the debt with him from the joint drug sales.