By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

During a special patrol on Friday, in the Jacó Beach* area, in the province of Puntarenas, Immigration Police detained a U.S. citizen wanted by the U.S. authorities.

According to the police report, when they reviewed the person's passport, it was detected that the U.S. citizen "had a criminal record in his country for robbery, assault and reckless driving."

The man was taken to a holding cell of the immigration police, where he was interviewed by officers and will stay in immigration custody during the extradition process to the United States.

The police did not reveal the suspect's name.

According to the Directorate of Immigration, in these special patrolling operations, the officers have the goal of finding "foreigners with irregular immigration status and foreigners with criminal records that could put peoples safety at risk."

In addition to patrolling in the area, officers make checks on the main roads, where they review drivers and passenger identification documents or passports.

Immigration officers also patrol public and commercial places such as shops, massage rooms, hostels, and areas of major visitation of foreigners, as well as a review of people on public roads and in the beach area.

According to the police report, 30 officers participated in last weekend's patrol. They reviewed 218 people of various nationalities, including Colombians, Dominicans, Nicaraguans, Salvadorans, and Mexicans.

In addition to the U.S. Citizen, ten more foreigners were arrested on suspicion of entering the country illegally.

The suspects were transferred to holding cells of the Immigration Police located in the city of Los Lagos in the province of Heredia. They will be detained in the Central Region Apprehension Center until the procedures for deportation to their countries of origin are carried out.

In addition to the arrests, the officers seized four passports that will be used as evidence in the investigation against the suspects.

Related to the most recent arrest of a U.S. citizen arrest, as A.M. Costa Rica reported on Sept 18th, the police of the International Airport Daniel Oduber Quirós, in Liberia* in the province of Guanacaste, arrested a U.S. citizen, surnamed Singleton suspected of international drug trafficking.



According to the police report, the suspect arrived in the country, on a direct flight from Miami, FL.

In a routine review, officers detected packages of candy and plastic containers with suspicious content.

As part of the process in the case of drug trafficking suspects, the airport officials requested the support of specialists from the Air Surveillance Service.

According to Airport Police Chief Captain Otto-Arrieta, 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 Arrieta.

Singleton was taken to the holding cells of the Public Ministry in Liberia, where he was interrogated by the judicial agents. A judge ordered six months on pre-trial measures against him.



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Could there be a procedural error, at border checkpoints that allowed the U.S. citizen to enter illegally the country?  We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to: news@amcostarica.com

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