-Published: Wednesday, October 23, 2019-
Foreigner jailed for international drug trafficking
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Prosecutor's Office said Tuesday that a judge of the Criminal Court of the Province of Alajuela, ordered three months of pretrial detention against a 67-year-old Italian citizen surnamed Zago, on suspicion of international drug trafficking.
According to the Prosecutor's report, the suspect was arrested on Monday at the Juan Santamaría International Airport when he intended to leave the country to Frankfurt, Germany.
"Before he boarded the plane, Drug Control Police officers inspected Zago's luggage and found 1,215 grams of cocaine inside his suitcase lining," said the prosecutor in a report.
According to prosecutors in addition to the drug, the suspect was carrying in the luggage 10,420 in euros plus 250,000 colons in cash, which he had not reported to Migration officials.
The suspect had entered the country, as a tourist Oct. 2.
The suspect was taken to the cells of the Public Ministry where he was interrogated by the judicial agents and then a judge ordered three months pretrial detention
As A.M. Costa Rica reported on Oct 14, the Professional Migration Police said that four U.S. citizens were prohibited from entering to the country because they have criminal records of sexual abuse against minors.
According to the police report, the first case involved three men, all U.S. citizens, who arrived in the country by boat and tried to enter through the maritime immigration control post located in the Province of Puntarenas port.
The fourth U.S. citizen, also was rejected when he arrived in the country, apparently from Nicaragua, and tried to enter the country at the Peñas Blancas post on the northern border.
According to the immigration police, the officers of the border posts detected that this person had a history of sexual abuse against minors and possession of child pornography.
"Given this background, the officers proceed to reject the requests to enter the country," said the Directorate General of Migration in its report. In all four cases, the men had reported that they were coming to the country as tourists. Them names was not reported in police statement.
According to the data provided by the Directorate General of Migration, during this year, the request for entry of 48 people have been rejected because of criminal records of sexual abuse against minors. In 2018, 77 people were rejected for having the same background. In 2017, 79 people were rejected for the same reasons, the immigration agency said.
Another airport case was reported Sept 18 after the police of the International Airport Daniel Oduber Quirós in Liberia in the province of Guanacaste arrested a man surnamed Singleton as a suspect of international drug trafficking.
According to the police report, the suspect arrived in the country, on a direct flight from Miami, Florida.
In a routine review, officers said they detected packages of candy and plastic containers with suspicious contents. As part of the process in the case of drug trafficking suspects, the airport officials requested the support of specialists from the Air Surveillance Service. According to Airport Police Chief Captain Otto-Arrieta, a K-9 dog that specializes in drug tracking detected marijuana hidden in the suspect's luggage.
"In the suspect's luggage there were 29.34 grams of marijuana in wraps and 17.92 grams of marijuana in jelly candies," said Arrieta.
Singleton was taken to the cells of the Public Ministry in Liberia, where he was interrogated by the judicial agents. A judge ordered three months pre-trial jail against him.
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What else can the authorities do in fighting drug trafficking ? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to: news@amcostarica.com
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