Costa Rica shields itself against drug trafficking

By Mario Garita for Infosurhoy.com

SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica – Costa Rican authorities have improved coordination among its law enforcement agencies and its partnerships throughout the region to seize 4.4 metric tons off the Central American nation’s coast.

So far this year, the Ministry of Public Security has recorded 14 drug busts on land and at sea, as well as four cases of passengers being arrested for trying to transport cocaine through Juan Santamaría International Airport in the nation’s capital of San José.

“Part of [our] strategy in the fight against organized crime [is greater] communication and transmission of information between police forces, which is what we’ve done these past few months,” Public Security Vice Minister Celso Gamboa said. “This proves that our police forces have created a barrier that strongly affects groups engaged in narco-trafficking.”

Between January and March of last year, 3.7 metric tons of cocaine was confiscated, with 3.3 metric tons being seized in maritime operations.

“The law of supply and demand is what moves the drug trade,” Gamboa said. “Since demand for cocaine in the United States has not increased, we can affirm that the seizures are a result of better coordination between local police agencies.”

There has been a clear decline in cocaine consumption in North America, mainly attributable to a decline in the consumption rates in the United States from 3% (2006) to 2.2% (2010) of adults ages 15 to 64, according to the latest World Drug Report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Despite being a relatively small country of 51,100 square kilometers, Costa Rica monitors 511,000 square kilometers of territorial waters, making international assistance key in the counter-narcotics fight, according to Martín Arias, director of the country’s National Coast Guard Service (SNG).

 

Costa Rican authorities confiscated 4.4 metric tons of cocaine offshore from January to March 25, according to the Drug Enforcement Police in Costa Rica. (Courtesy of the Costa Rican National Coast Guard Service)

“We work in coordination with Colombia and Panama, and [we communicate with] the U.S. Coast Guard so that they can cover the areas that we’re not able to,” Arias said.

In late February, the U.S. Coast Guard seized just more than a ton of cocaine in Costa Rican waters. They acted under the Joint Patrol Agreement between both countries, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

The Costa Rican Public Force’s roadblocks also have helped curb narco-trafficking, as police seized 55 kilograms of cocaine in two operations near the border with Panama.

Counter-narcotics agents also keep a close watch on suspicious vehicles – specifically trucks – traveling to Nicaragua through the Peñas Blancas border area, said Freddy Montero, deputy director of Immigration, adding increasing the number of officers in that area in December has paid dividends.

Drug Control Police reported that nearly 557 kilograms of cocaine were seized in Peñas Blancas in five operations conducted between Jan. 5 and Feb. 22.

Local production

Another challenge is combatting marijuana production nationwide, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

“Local production of marijuana is booming,” Public Security Minister Mario Zamora said. “New species [of marijuana] are replacing traditional ones and that represents a great danger for us.”

It’s also common for narco-traffickers to grow marijuana on private property, which keeps them less exposed from authorities, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

Costa Rican Public Security Minister Mario Zamora: “Local production of marijuana is booming as well as a qualitative change. New species are replacing traditional and that represents a great danger for us.” (Courtesy of the Drug Control Police)

In January, the Drug Control Police destroyed more than 51,000 marijuana plants through a joint operation with the Police Intervention Unit and Air Surveillance Service in different mountainous areas in the southern region.

In addition, 272 hydroponic marijuana plants were seized on March 14 in four raids throughout San José.

“This gives a clear signal to drug traffickers that in Costa Rica, we will enforce the law, whether by land, sea or air,” Zamora said.