Speedboat runs aground with 1,400 kilos of cocaine

March 13^th, 2013 (InsideCostaRica.com) A total of 1,400 kilos of cocaine were seized yesterday on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast after four suspected drug runners ran their speedboat onto the beach after a chase in the Caribbean Sea.

The drug runners ran the vessel onto Manzanillo beach in Limon and fled.

The Ministry of Public Security reported the seizure and initial count of the drug, which came in 69 packages of about 20 kilos each, according to a press release.

Mario Zamora, Security Minister, said that the boat had four engines, each worth about $30,000 USD, in addition to the boat that Zamora estimated at being worth about $100,000.  Zamora indicated that the boat itself could now be used by authorities in the fight against drug traffickers.

Authorities said that the tracking of the vessel began on Monday night after authorities received confidential reports of a boat full of drugs headed from Colombia.

Officers of the Coast Guard and the Air Surveillance Service were involved in the tracking and chase of the vessel, and, yesterday morning, the drug runners ran the vessel onto the beach, feeling cornered.

The occupants of the boat fled, and security forces launched an attempt to locate them.