Ontario man recounts ordeal after being stuck in Dominican Republic on 'bogus' drug charges
CBC
An Ontario man who was arrested in the Dominican Republic over accusations of smuggling drugs is recounting his 71-day ordeal in the Caribbean country.
David Bennett, 57, returned home to Burlington on May 16 after his charges were withdrawn following weeks of intense lobbying by Canadian government officials and others. The lobbying efforts were led by his wife Jane Wilcox.
The couple had spent a week at a resort with two friends and were on their way home on March 7 when Bennett was denied entry at the automated customs gate at the Punta Cana airport and taken to an interrogation room.
The two were shown a photo of a bag they didn't recognize, with a slightly different name on it: Davi Bennett instead of David R. Bennett — the name on Bennett's bag and all his travel documents. Wilcox told CBC News in March that the charges were "bogus."
RCMP said this week it continues to investigate baggage tag switching schemes, and it has made arrests related to this particular case.
Now back in Canada, Bennett told CBC Hamilton on Friday about his arrest.
Following the interrogation at the airport, Bennett said officers took him, another male and female couple, who were facing similar accusations, to a pickup truck in the airport's parking lot.
"[They] loaded us in the pickup truck and drove us at speeds in excess of 130 kilometres an hour, roughly half hour outside of the airport to a compound," Bennett said.
"We were in the back of this vehicle with no seatbelts on. It was really scary."
Bennett said there were between 15 to 20 people, some in uniform, at the compound where they were taken.
"That's when they brought a translator — a lady that could translate a little bit in English to us — and that's when they told us the seriousness of what was in front of us."
After a little more than an hour at the location, Bennett said they were whisked back to the airport where they were kept in the back of a hot and stuffy pickup for approximately two hours before being taken to a jail facility.
Bennett said he was placed in a "really small" cell with about 12 to 15 other men and more people were added throughout the night.
"It was pitch black. We really couldn't see the faces of anyone coming in. We just saw body images of people coming in and we had no clue what we were dealing with," he said.
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