Israeli Nabbed in Drug
Bust
Costa Rican police say
they have arrested an
Israeli citizen in
connection with the
largest seizure of the
designer drug ecstasy in
the country’s history.
Police say they found
more than 18,000 doses
of the drug weighing
almost 4 kilos -- nearly
9 pounds -- in the
luggage of the man,
identified only as a 31
year-old with the last
name Koren, when he
arrived on a flight from
Spain on Saturday.
Police said the man was
also carrying a false
Mexican passport with a
different last name.
Each ecstasy pill can
sell from between ˘5.000
colones (us$9.61) and
˘15.000 colones
(us$28.85) each.
Officials at the Israeli
Embassy in Costa Rica
said Wednesday that the
person arrested is an
Israeli citizen, but
said they had yet to
receive any official
notice of the arrest
from Costa Rican
authorities and had not
yet met with the
suspect.
While Costa Rica is a
frequent shipping point
for large amounts of
cocaine traveling from
South America to the
United States, drug use
in Costa Rica is
limited. Authorities
believe the ecstasy was
headed for beaches on
the country’s Pacific
coast, a popular
destination for foreign
tourists.
Koren has been ordered
held in preventive
detention for at least
three months while
formal charges are
brought. Bail is rarely
extended to foreigners
involved in drug
smuggling cases in Costa
Rica. |
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