Published Tuesday, November 3, 2020

In a drug operation, U.S. officials Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA, supported officers of the Drug Enforcement Police and the National Coast Guard Service in the arrest of two men suspected of transporting drugs in a sportfishing boat, informed the Ministry of Security.

According to the police report, the case began on Saturday when an alert was received from a suspicious sportfishing boat that was crossing Costa Rican waters near Cobano Coast in Puntarenas.

Costa Rican coast guards attended the alert and located the Costa Rican-flag sportfishing boat with a three-man crew. "When they noticed the presence of the Coast Guard officers, they tried to flee," the police said in its report.

After a chase in the waters near Tambor Beach, the boat ran aground near Cobano. However, the three crew members managed to get out of the boat, reach the coast and escape.

The coast guard requested reinforcements from the police officers in the area who managed to arrest two of the suspects who were found near Tambor beach.

The two men arrested are Costa Ricans, identified with the surname Medina, 27, and Reyes, 39.

Meanwhile, Coast Guard officials found in the boat a cargo of 855 cocaine packages weighing approximately one kilogram.

The boat and drugs were seized as part of the evidence in the case against the suspects. Then, the sportfishing vessel was transported to the National Coast Guard Service Station in Caldera Port.

The two suspects were jailed in the cells of the Public Ministry where they were interrogated by the judicial agents and after that, must wait until a judge orders the pre-trial measures against them for allegedly transporting drugs.

This is the second case, in less than one month, of U.S. officials supporting the Costa Rican Coast Guard in the fight against drug trafficking.


On Oct. 6, the U.S. Coast Guard officers delivered to Costa Rican authorities the drugs, boat and crew suspected of transporting 1,300-plus kilos of drugs.

According to the police report, during a routine sea patrol over the weekend, the U.S. officers intercepted a Costa Rican boat registered with the name "Barracuda X."

On closer inspection, officers found that the ship was carrying 1,220 kilograms of marijuana and 149 packages of cocaine.

The crew made up of two Nicaraguan men surnamed Willis, 33, Talavera-García, 26, and one Costa Rican surnamed Ferguson-Madison, 30, were arrested.

The U.S. officials seized the boat and drugs, transporting them to Golfito Port, in Puntarenas Province, where Costa Rican authorities took over the suspects and the rest of the evidence.

Officials from the Drug Control Police, after an in-depth investigation, determined that the shipment was 1,220 kilograms of marijuana in 320 packages of one kilo plus 1,800 packages weighing 500 grams each. Also, they found 149 packages of cocaine weighing one kilogram each. 

The drug and ship were seized for proof of evidence of the case against the suspects.

The three men were taken to the cells of the Public Ministry where they were interrogated by the judicial agents. A judge ordered the pre-trial jail against them for suspected drug trafficking.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Security, this year more than 51 tons of drugs have already been seized, of which more than 40 tons are cocaine and the rest are marijuana.

The judicial agents ask for people to report any suspicion of drug sales, transportation or money laundering, to the confidential line 800-8000-645, where there are bilingual agents who can answer calls in English or Spanish.


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