Drug Trafficking
Continues Despite Police
Crackdown
Though authorities in
Costa Rica seem to be
hitting hard on the drug
trade, traffickers
appear undeterred, as
traffickers continue to
haul large quantities of
illegal drugs into and
through Costa Rica.
The latest confiscations
by police was over the
weekend when, according
to a statement by the
Ministerio de Seguridad
Pública (MSP), two
drivers were detained in
Esparza, east of the
Pacific town of
Puntarenas and in
another separate
incident on Friday the
Costa Rican coast guard
found 40 kilos of
cocaine in Colombian
boat seized last
December.
In the first arrest, the
Policía Control de
Drogas (PCD) - Costa
Rican drug enforcement
police - stopped a truck
belonging to a seafood
company around 6:00am,
finding 331 kilos of
cocaine. Police also
confiscated a number of
bullets and firearms
inside the truck and
arrested the drivers
identified as Gómez and
Sánchez, both Costa
Ricans.
Authorities say the
packets containing the
drugs were "visibly
deteriorated",
indicating that the
latex wrapped packets
had is believed to have
been floating at sea for
some time, said
statement.
Police believe that the
Puntarenas-Esparza
trucking route is being
used by drug traffickers
who use the darkness of
night to pick up the
illegal drugs from the
port and deliver it to
their destination.
The seizure on Friday
was a result of police
draining the boat that
had been sitting at the
Coast Guard station in
Playa Flamingo, in
Guanacaste, after it had
filled with rain. The
statement said that
hidden inside the boat
they found on 40 kilo
packet of cocaine.
The boat was part of a
seizure last December
when a Mexican and
Colombian national were
arrested when police
intercepted the boat
containing one metric
ton of cocaine. The two
men were later released
by the prosecutor
assigned to the case but
the boat remained in
confiscation.
So far this year, the
confiscation of illegal
drugs is about 25 tons
of cocaine. |
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