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Published Thursday, February 11, 2021
Jailed gang suspected drug
trafficking to the U.S.
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Drug Control Police officers detained alleged gang members on Wednesday for suspects of drug trafficking to the U.S.
According to the police report, the suspects, all Costa Ricans, surnamed Obando, 32 years old; Hidalgo, 29; Quesada, 35 years old; and Fallas, 27, allegedly sent a container of frozen fish to the United States, hiding a shipment of 5 kilos of cocaine.
The case began in January when during a routine review at the customs warehouses of the Juan Santamaría International Airport in Alajuela Province, five packages of approximately one kilo each of drug were detected inside the frozen fish container.
As a result of the investigation, the police detected the gang allegedly sent the shipment. They were arrested after several raids were held in their homes located in Portalon District, Quepos Canton, Puntarenas Province.
Police also seized $700 and documents as part of the evidence in the case.
The suspects were taken to the cells of the Public Ministry where they were interrogated by the judicial agents and after that, they must wait until a judge orders the pre-trial measures against them as suspects of international drug trafficking.
Intending to detect drug shipments hidden within export products, since Monday, the General Customs Directorate ordered that all containers of pineapple or its derived products be exported from the APM Terminals Port in Moín Canton, Limón Province must be scanned.
This is the third drug shipment found in containers this year.
Last week, Drug Control Police agents found two
tons of cocaine inside a pineapple shipment located at the APM
Terminals Port in Moín, Limón Province.
According to the police
report, during a routine inspection of the containers, a large number of
black bags were hidden between the fruit boxes that were going to be
exported to Belgium.
In a more detailed inspection of the
shipment, it was determined that the cargo had 2,000 packages of
cocaine, each weighing approximately one kilogram.
The drug was seized as part of the evidence in the case. No suspect has yet been arrested.
In
January, agents found 110 packages of cocaine that were hidden inside
another container with pineapple juices ready to be exported to Spain
from the Limón Province port.
According to the Ministry of
Security statistics, in 2020 there was 16.1 tons of cocaine seized. The
drug was detected inside 18 containers located at the ports in Limón and
Puntarenas.
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How should all containers to export from Costa Rica be scanned? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com
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