Police Bust Ring That Shipped Drugs to Spain
The Policía de Control de Drogas (PCD) in Costa Rica are unrelenting on the drug trade following the increased drug trafficking activity in the past year, as Costa Rica has been converted into an important bridge between the drugs in Colombia and the market to the north.

Yesterday, following a investigation of a group of Colombians linked to the international drug trade, the PCD made a series of raids in Cañas, near Liberia in the Guanacaste province. Raids were also made in Tilarán and Upala, near Cañas, that led to the detention of two people while a third is still at large.

According to the police investigation, the men are tied to a group of guerillas - Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) and the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC) in Colombia.

Authorities say the group received shipments of cocaine from Colombia and shipped it to Spain, hidden in cans of "palmito". The investigation led police to believe that the group used the Asociación Norteña de Pequeños Productores Agropecuarios de Aguas Claras de Upala to ship the drugs and stored in warehouses in Tilarán.

Though the raids didn't net any drugs, police say they have hit hard on the trade in Spain with seizures over the last several months, the last of which was a shipment of 190 kilos that was confiscated in Barcelona, coming from the port of Limón.

In that operation, Spanish police arrested 24 persons: 3 Colombians in Madrid and 3 Colombians, 1 Dominican and 8 Spaniards in Barcelona.

Police believe the group arrested in Spain form part of the group arrested yesterday in Costa Rica.

The Ministerio de Seguridad Pública and the Policía de Control de Drogas say they will continue their efforts on the drug trade.