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Mexican Drug Cartel Controls
Most Costa Rica Maritime
Smuggling
The Sinaloa Cartel, one of
Mexico's most powerful drug
trafficking organizations, was
behind the rampant cocaine
trafficking activities among
fishermen in Costa Rica, senior
security officials said Sunday.
Gerardo Lascarez, Costa Rica's
vice-ministro de Seguridad
Pública (deputy minister of
public security), said the
cartel recruited traffickers in
Costa Rica and invested large
sums of money in the country to
make its operations successful.
The cartel's part in the Pacific
cocaine trade was discovered on
March 8, when an arrested Costa
Rican drug trafficker confessed
that he led a local group allied
to the Mexican drug cartel.
Police discovered that the
Cartel had paid us$200.000
in cash for a boat.
Drug control police said the
boat has transported two tons of
cocaine to Mexico since August
2006 without being detected.
Another Costa Rican boat
involved in the Mexican drug
trafficking ring was caught in
international waters on January
12 with 1.9 kg of cocaine hidden
in its refrigerators.
"Mexicans took the reins of
international cocaine transport
some years ago. This is
worrying," Lascarez said.
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