By A.M. Costa Rica staff
This morning, the Deputy
Prosecutor's Office against Drug
Trafficking completed a complex
operation that included Spain, which
allowed the arrest of a group of 12
people suspected of the extortion
kidnapping of a U.S. businessman
U.S., William Sean Creighton Kopko,
which occurred on September 24,
2018.
The National Police of Spain today
captured of the three suspects, one
of them is believed to be the leader
of the gangs in the city of Zaragoza*.
That capture included a man surnamed
Morales-Vega, who is apparently the
leader of the gang, his fiancee
surnamed Solís-Chaves, and his
mother surnamed Vega-Aguirre. These
three suspects had traveled to Spain
after having, presumably,
participated in the kidnapping of
the U.S. citizen.
National Spanish police also seized
€4,000 in cash ($4,593), credit
cards used for virtual currency
transactions as bitcoin, an
accounting book and electronic
devices.
According to the Costa Rican
Prosecutor office, the three
suspects captured in Spain will be
presented before the Spanish
National Court tomorrow for
extradition processing to Costa
Rica.
In Costa Rica, the police made nine
raids and captured nine additional
suspects. The raids were made in Cartago*, La Unión*, Guadalupe*, Moravia*,
Santo Domingo in
Heredia* and Limón*.
The people arrested in Costa Rica
are: a senior woman,
surnamed Aguirre-Lean, who is the
leader's grandmother, a man surnamed
Vega-Aguirre who is the uncle of the
leader, a man surnamed Jiron-Lopez
who is a transit police officer and
a man surnamed Medrano-Vargas who
also is a transit police officer.
According to the police report, the
raids resulted in the seizure of,
"relevant evidence, such as
firearms, cell phones, tablets,
computers, vehicles, SIM cards,
paper with notations and shopping
vouchers, in addition to cash in
dollars."
The investigators' report, states
that apparently "the suspects
developed a plan to carry out the
kidnapping of U.S. citizen William
Sean Creighton Kopko, and collect a
sum of money in exchange for his
release. They intercepted the
victim in a pick-up vehicle and then
they kidnapped him. "
|
Spain National
Police courtesy photo
The National Police
of Spain today captured
the leader of the gangs in
the city of Zaragoza.
The results of today’s
raids and investigations
indicate that on September
24, 2018, the suspects had
followed Creighton during
the night to the town of Granadilla*
in Curridabat, where,
apparently with the
collaboration of the two
transit police officers,
they approached the
businessman when he was
traveling in his car and
kidnapped him.
The exact place where
Creighton was hidden is
still under investigation.
And his current location
and condition are also
unknown.
"It is presumed that,
after the kidnapping, (the
suspects captured today)
made calls to people close
to the victim and demanded
payment of a large amount
of money in Bitcoin-type
virtual currency to
release Creighton Kopko.
Apparently they managed to
receive the equivalent of
$950,800,” said the
Prosecutor.
After the kidnapping,
investigators state that
*the leader of the group,
his girlfriend and his
mother moved to Cuba,
where it is suspected that
they remained for over a
month. They then
traveled to Spain, first
to Alicante*
and then to Zaragoza*
where they were captured
this morning.
As for the nine people
captured in Costa Rica,
they are in detention and
the Prosecutor Office is
in the process of
registering the
interrogatory statements.
When that is done, the
Prosecutor will
request that the Criminal
Court of San José issue
the precautionary measures
against all the suspects.
-------
We
would like to know your
thoughts on this story.
Send your comments to: news@amcostarica.com
*Click on the blue letters
to reach the place in
google maps.
|
