-Thursday, November 14, 2019-




By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Agents of the judicial and Interpol agents, coordinated with the Nicaraguan police to arrest a Canadian man who had been facing charges in Costa Rica. The man has the last name of Gallota, and he is 35. Agents said they were working on an international arrest warrant.

According to the agents' report, Gallota was being held in Costa Rica for the crime of drug transport. His lawyers requested a change of pre-trial measures, so a judge granted him the benefit of liberty with an ankle bracelet.

After a few months, the suspect apparently took off his bracelet and fled to Nicaragua, allegedly with false documents, said agents, adding that he tried to leave on a private flight to his native Canada, in order to evade Costa Rican justice. The Nicaraguan authorities realized that the person was using false documents, so they proceeded with his arrest, the agents said in a report.

In Nicaragua, the police verified the the true identity of the suspect where an arrest warrant was issued by Interpol.

According to the police report in Nicaragua, Gallota entered that country with the false identity of Jonathan Tessier.

The suspect "was captured on Wednesday, Oct. 23 at Augusto César Sandino Airport along with two Mexican citizens, one 59, (pilot) and the other 38 (copilot) when he intended to leave the country in private flight," said the Nicaraguan police in a report.

According to the police file, Gallota had entered Costa Rica in July 2018, through the Juan Santamaría International Airport from Canada.

In August 2018, during a routine street patrol, the suspect and two other Canadians were detained after police found slightly more than 1,000 methamphetamine pills in the men's car. The three men were taken to the Public Ministry cells for suspected drug transport.

The judge ordered at that time, pre-trial prison for eight months. After the request for a change of pre-trial measures were accepted, Gallota was released on the condition that he would wear a bracelet on his ankles to control his movements through a GPS system.

According to the agents, the suspect got rid of the bracelet to escape to Nicaragua. Agents said they suspect that the man obtained a fake Canadian passport in Costa Rica.

The three suspects, Gallota, the pilot and co-pilot. were handed over to the agents in Costa Rica, and then they were jailed at the Public Ministry cells, where they were interrogated by the judicial agents. They are facing a hearing with a judge who will consider pre-trial measures.

The case began with the stop of a vehicle in the district of Ciudad Colón and the discovery of the pills.

According to the police report then, the other suspects suspects were a man surnamed Stack and one with the last name of Anderson.

The “police intercepted a suspected car after receiving a call about a group of foreigners with a strange attitude," said the police in 2018 report, "Immediately, the police managed to detain the men with the money and the drugs.”

Since drugs were involved, officers requested the collaboration of the Drug Control Police who said the substances in the vehicle were 502 doses of pink-colored methamphetamine and 504 doses of gray-colored methamphetamine, in the shape of a diamond.


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Should the judge set prison as a pre-trial measure for the suspect detained in Nicaragua? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com