AUTHORITIES in the Dominican Republic have arrested a colonel and nine officers accused of stealing weapons and ammunition from the police department’s armoury and illegally selling them into neighbouring Haiti, it was reported on Thursday.

The crackdown that began Sunday is ongoing as officials continue to track down weapons and military supplies. 

An official document leaked to reporters sheds details on the ongoing investigation, including that the stolen supplies were sold to Haitians.

The document stated that one of the suspects arrested, a woman who lives in the southern Dominican province of Pedernales, which borders Haiti, is accused of receiving dozens of boxes of ammunition of different calibres that were sold from $86 to $99 each (around £68 and £78). 

It noted that Miguelina Bello Segura sold them to Haitians who would routinely use them to commit crimes.

The document also stated that the colonel who was arrested, Narciso Antonio Feliz Romero, received cash stuffed into a backpack from an officer who sold ammunition via a contact in Haiti.

Overall, the scheme officials say was run by Mr Feliz, illegally sold more than 900,000 projectiles.

It wasn’t immediately known how many weapons and what types were sold or when the group began operating. Officials have not released details, saying the investigation is ongoing.

Dominican President Luis Abinader has long criticised the situation in Haiti and taken steps that have frayed the countries’ tenuous ties including targeting migrants and building a wall along the border that both nations share on the island of Hispaniola.

Wilson Camacho, head of the Specialised Prosecutor’s Office that targets administrative corruption, has called the case “extremely serious” and said it placed the country’s national security at risk.

Violence in Haiti has surged in recent weeks including the temporary forced closure of the main international airport after shots were fired at three commercial flights.