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Published Monday, March 9, 2020
Italian man sentenced forinternational drug trafficking By the A.M. Costa Rica staff The Prosecutor's Office against Drug Trafficking and Related Crimes reported Friday, the Bribri Criminal Court, in Limón Province sentenced a 46-year-old Italian man surnamed Levice to 12 years in prison after finding him guilty of the crime of international drug trafficking. According to the prosecutor, the case started in 2018 when, due to an alert came from the Italian authorities about Levice's participation in the illegal activity of a criminal organization operating from Italy. Levice had an active role in international drug trafficking, when as part of his case, it was established that in May 2018, another Italian man, surnamed Righini, 48, stayed at Levice home in Puerto Viejo in Limón Province, said the Prosecutor. Righini arrived in Costa Rica intending to transport a drug shipment out of the country, said the prosecutor. However, when Righini tried to leave the country, he was arrested at the Juan Santamaría International Airport in Alajuela Province because a scan detected that he was carrying 70 cocaine ovules, weighing 582 grams in total, in his body. According to the prosecutor, Righini was found guilty of international drug trafficking and was also sentenced in 2019 to five years in prison for that crime. Due to Righini's case, the authorities discovered that he had stayed at Levice's house. In February 2019, agents of the Judicial Investigation Organization raided Levice's house where they found about $5,700 in cash, latex balloons, paper and other material used for the preparation of the ovules. Also found was a package with cocaine, said the prosecutor in its statement. In March 2019, the police reported Levine's detention. It was reported he had a residency, no criminal records and the was renting cabins to tourists. Police reported they also seized 2.1 grams of hashish and two marijuana plants between 30 and 60 centimeters tall. According to authorities hashish, or hash, is a drug made from the resin of the cannabis plant and containing THC as the main mind-altering chemical. Levice used his business to rent cabins as a screen to hide an operations center where drugs were prepared and people were recruited to take the drugs to Europe, said the police in a report. A recent case of a foreign detained in an international airport as suspects of drug trafficking, happened in February, when the Drug Control Police stopped two foreigners at the baggage checkpoint of the Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia, Guanacaste, with a cargo of chocolate with marijuana.  According to the police report, the first man arrested was a U.S. citizen surnamed Sayela-Wala, 31. The second man arrested was a Canadian, surnamed Cameron-Paterson, 49. Both foreigners were arrested at the time their luggage was inspected at the airport checkpoint, where 1,087 units of chocolate bars plus nine pieces of chocolate containing marijuana were found by police. According to the police, the cargo weighs a total of 83 kilos of chocolate including marijuana. According to the data provided by the police, both men entered the country Feb. 14, through the land migration post of Peñas Blancas on the northern border with Nicaragua. At the time of the arrests, both men intended to leave the country through the airport on Liberia for Amsterdam in Holland, making a stopover in the U.S., the police said. "The suspects were carrying seven suitcases as luggage within which police officers detected a large number of chocolates that were mixed with apparent marijuana," said the police in its statement. In addition to the confiscation of cargo, the police seized $1,808 in cash. The two men were taken to the cells of the Public Ministry where they were interrogated by the judicial agents and, after that, a judge ordered pre-trial jail against them. A similar case happened in September 2019, when a U.S. citizen, surnamed Singleton, was detained at the same airport in Guanacaste Province, as a suspect of international drug trafficking.  According to the police report, the man arrived in the country on a direct flight from Miami, Florida. In a routine search, officers said they detected packages of candy and plastic containers with suspicious merchandise. As part of the process in the case of drug trafficking alert, the airport officials requested the support of specialists from the Air Surveillance Service. According to Airport Police 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 the police. Singleton was taken to the cells of the Public Ministry in Liberia where a judge ordered pre-trial jail against him. -------------------------------- Why are foreigners trafficking drugs from Costa Rica and not from their country of origin? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com |
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