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Drug Traffic Up
Costa Rican police officials
expressed surprise Wednesday at
the increase in cocaine traffic,
mainly in Pacific Ocean waters,
where in the last ten days,
authorities seized five boats
allegedly used in drug
operations.
This confiscation brings the
total cocaine intercepted in
Costa Rica in 2006 to 20 tonnes.
For Ministro de Seguridad
Pública (Public Security
Minister), Fernando
Berrocal, the arrest of
foreigners involved in cocaine
traffic has become a "very
serious problem for national
security."
Last Friday, drug forces nine
people in the area of playa
Bandera, Parrita, in the Palo
Seco region with a ton of
cocaine and 29 assault rifles,
including 83 rockets capable of
massive destruction.
In that action, seven Colombians
and two Costa Ricans were
detained; two of them deported
immediately to San Andres island
in Colombia.
The minister said after the
arrest that he would like to see
the foreigners "expelled
from the country".
.
Subsequently, a Costa Rican
Court denied to the seven bail
and ordered them to three months
of preventive prison (jail)
while authorities continue their
investigation.
The confiscation and detention
came within a day after Costa
Rica extradited Hector Martinez
Quinto, a supposedly high
ranking official of the
Colombian Revolutionary Armed
Forces (FARC).
According to Colombian and Costa
Rican authorities, Martinez was
the head of a network that
exchanged drugs for arms in
Central America.
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