  The case began in August 2019, when they got confidential information about a gang of drug trafficking and money laundering in Guanacaste Province. - Judicial Investigation Organization photo - |
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 Published Wednesday, December 16, 2020 Judge
arrested as a suspect of being
linked to a drug trafficking gang By the A.M. Costa Rica staff Agents from the Judicial Investigation Organization, OIJ, arrested on Tuesday a judge with 15 other suspects, allegedly members of a gang dedicated to international drug trafficking and money laundering. According to the agent's report, the case began in August 2019, when they got confidential information about a gang of drug trafficking and money laundering in Guanacaste Province. Allegedly, the gangsters controlled boats that brought cocaine from South America and once the drug was in the country, they carried out all the logistics to move it to North America. During the investigation, the agents managed to carry out several operations to seize drugs and money, allegedly obtained from drug trafficking. The first seizure related to the same case was made by officers of the Drug Control Police in July 2019, at the Peñas Blancas checkpoint, on the border with Nicaragua. In that operation, the police seized more than $200,000 in cash that a man was hiding in his truck. Three months later, in October, 740 kilos of cocaine was seized and allegedly linked to the same gang. The drug was hidden in a secret compartment on a boat that was intercepted in international waters by the U.S. Coast Guard. This year, there were two other major seizures, also related to the same gang. The first happened on April 20, in the Orotina Canton, Alajuela Province, when agents found five kilos of cocaine hidden in a secret compartment in a car. The second seizure happened on April 30, near the Daniel Oduber International Airport, in Guanacaste Province, when agents found approximately $3,292 in colones hidden in a vehicle. Regarding the judge arrested on Tuesday, the judicial agents reported that he works in the Nicoya Court, Guanacaste Province. Authorities did not provide the judge's name. According to the agents, after the seizure of the $3,000-plus in April, that judge advised the gang on how to proceed and also gave them information about the surveillance work made by OIJ. The rest of the 15 suspects belonging to the same gang, were also arrested on Tuesday, in their houses located in the cantons of La Cruz, Nicoya, Liberia, in Guanacaste and in downtown Puntarenas in Puntarenas Province and Desamparados Canton in San José Province. The names of the suspects have not been provided by judicial agents.  In addition to the arrests, agents seized eleven guns, 257 ammunition of different calibers, five cars, and more than $65,000 in cash, 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. This is the third case of the detention of court employees suspected of committing a crime within two months.  On Dec. 2, the Deputy Prosecutor's Office of Probity, Transparency and Anti-Corruption, ordered the arrest of five people suspected of committing the crime of disclosure of secrets and bribery. According to the Public Ministry, the suspects arrested are two workers from the San José Court, surnamed Molina-Vargas and Cruz-Tenorio. Also, a third employee named Lara-Flores was arrested. Additionally two attorneys surnamed Rojas-Pochet and Hernández -González, were arrested. All of them were detained in their homes located in the provinces of San José and Heredia. According to the case, the suspects are being investigated for the commission of apparent acts of corruption in the processing of a case related to an expropriation of a property, which was being developed in the Administrative Contentious Court. An expropriation, or eminent domain, is a process when the government takes private property for public use. In addition to the arrests, the judicial agents raided the homes and offices of the suspects, as well as offices in the Court and the Attorney General, to seize more relevant evidence for the case. The five suspects were taken to the cells of the Public Ministry where a judge released them with some pre-trial measures. In November, a judge and a court employee were arrested on suspicion of aiding people linked to drug trafficking.  In that case, the Prosecutor's Office ordered the arrest of two men, one is a judge surnamed Mora-Sanchez and the other is a court employee, surnamed Acevedo-Diaz, on suspicion of Painful Facilitation for Drug Trafficking Impunity, that is to say, allegedly helping suspects who are linked to drug trafficking cases. According to the Prosecutor's Office report, both suspects work in the Golfito Court. They allegedly provided information to other drug trafficking suspects on the operations that were going to be carried out by judicial agents in the Golfito Canton. The Prosecutor's Office suspects that the judge intentionally hadn’t imposed the pre-trial jail preventive measure to people who were detained on suspicion of drug trafficking. As part of the investigation, a significant increase in income for both officials was observed, the agents said. Allegedly the suspects received the money in exchange for cooperating with gangs dedicated to drug trafficking. The suspects' homes were raided, one located in the Bellavista community and another near the Golfito court. Also, the judicial agents raided the workplace of both suspects, to gather more information for the investigation. In addition to the suspects’ arrest, the agents seized a vehicle owned by the court employee. The two suspects were taken to the cells of the Public Ministry where a judge released them and ordered pre-trial measures of control against them. The judicial agents call on the population to report any suspicion of corruption of public employees linked to drug trafficking to the confidential line 800-8000-645, where there are bilingual agents who can answer calls in English or Spanish. -------------------- What have you heard of courthouse employees being involved in corruption cases? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com |
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