Former MLB players arrested for alleged ties to Caribbean drug-trafficking ring

Dominican authorities said Tuesday they have arrested former Major League Baseball pitcher Octavio Dotel over alleged links to a money-laundering and drug-trafficking operation and are looking for ex-infielder Luis Castillo in connection with the same crime organization.

Police have yet to apprehend César “The Abuser” Emilio Peralta, the alleged leader of the organization, according to Dominican Republic Attorney General Jean Alain Rodríguez.

{mosads}”Eighteen other people are linked to this network, including athletes and baseball players Octavio Dotel and Luis Castillo,” Rodríguez said in a news conference Tuesday in Santo Domingo, according to the Associated Press.

The attorney general said Peralta hid the source of his income in a complex network of shell companies as well as the two athletes and members of his own family and social circles. Officials said a 2,300-pound drug shipment bound for Puerto Rico from South America was connected to the drug ring.

Castillo denied the allegations in a since-deleted Instagram post, according to the AP, writing: “The truth is my country no longer works, my God, do you think that after making millions of dollars in Baseball I am going to dirty my hands with drugs?”

Dominican authorities collaborated with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI in the probe, according to the National Drug Control Directorate.

Dotel played for 13 Major League teams, the second-highest number of any player, during his career. He most recently played for the Detroit Tigers, before retiring in 2014.

Castillo played from 1996 through 2010, leaving the majors after playing for the Florida Marlins, Minnesota Twins and New York Mets.