Sandy Rodriguez Brito, 21, of San Juan, Puerto Rico, was apprehended Saturday night at Luis Munoz Marin International Airport while waiting for two drug mules to fly in from the Dominican Republic. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Brito at the airport about 10 p.m.Brito fled from a Salem motel room on Nov. 25, when one of three drug mules he hired began absorbing small bags of cocaine lodged in her digestive tract, according to police and court documents. Mally Cruz Rodriguez, 25, was pronounced dead at Caritas Holy Family Hospital in Methuen, Mass., shortly after her sister, Nelly Cruz Rodriguez, another drug carrier, called 911.Nelly Cruz Rodriguez also suffered from drug intoxication and was rushed to an area hospital to have several bags of cocaine removed from her. Federal officials revealed yesterday that a grand jury has indicted Brito and four others in connection with the case. They are Brito's sister Dionaliz; a cab driver Escolastico Suero, 45, of Methuen; Angel Baez-Gil, 45, of Lawrence; and Nelly Cruz Rodriguez, according to federal officials.Brito and his sister accompanied the three drug mules on a flight from Puerto Rico to Fort Lauderdale and then to Boston. Suero picked up the group at the airport with Baez-Gil, according to police affidavits.Suero, Baez-Gil and Nelly Cruz Rodriguez remain jailed as they await trial. Federal officials will bring Brito to New Hampshire, but no exact date has been set, police Capt. Shawn Patten said yesterday."We've worked closely with the federal authorities to make sure all the people involved in this case are brought to justice," Patten said. "We're looking forward to getting Mr. Brito back to the state of New Hampshire to face these charges."It's unclear what charges Brito, who has yet to be extradited, will face. Salem police said previously he could be charged in connection with supplying the fatal drugs that caused Cruz Rodriguez's death. The federal indictments, handed down last month, remain sealed in U.S. District Court.
Police were first alerted to the drug ring when Cruz Rodriguez made the 911 call from the Park View Inn about her ailing sister.Brito had allegedly taken suitcases belonging to the sisters and abandoned them with $40 cash and a cell phone when he fled with his sister and a third drug mule, according to a police affidavit.A key clue came about when detectives found a drugstore receipt for laxatives inside the motel rooms the group rented. Surveillance footage from a CVS in North Andover, Mass., showed Brito, Baez-Gil and Suero buying the laxatives around 3 a.m. on Nov. 25.Dionaliz Rodriguez Brito remains at large, but authorities are pursuing leads on her whereabouts.
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