Woman suspected of leading narco gang jailed

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff


The agents of the Judicial Investigation Organization in a joint effort with police officers from Osa* in the province of Puntarenas, in the southern area of the country, arrested a woman surnamed Gómez-Espinoza, 24 years-old, suspected of leading a gang of drug traffickers.

According to the agents' report, the suspect, known as "The Queen of the South" had an arrest warrant since last year. On Tuesday, agents received a confidential call about where she was located. That call helped officers detain her at 10:00 a.m. in a shopping center located in Palmar Norte in Puntarenas*.

Gómez-Espinoza is under investigation for alleged participation in a narco gang in charge of delivering drugs to other gangs that were selling drugs in the Southern Zone and the Central Valley as well. She also had an Interpol warrant against her since November 2018.

According to the investigation, the judicial agents had made several raids on a property in the area of Corredores, last year, where the officials expected to capture her. However, she managed to escape.

Judicial agents have taken Gómez-Espinoza to the cells of the Public Ministry in Osa, she will be transferred to the headquarters of the ministry in San Jose where she will be interrogated by the judicial agents, and after that, she must wait until a judge orders the pre-trial measures against her.

In another recent case, the capture of a narcotrafficking suspect with an international warrant was reported by A.M. Costa Rica on August 14th, when judicial agents arrested a Costa Rican man named López-Mendoza, nicknamed M1, who was a fugitive with an arrest warrant, for alleged robbery and links with narcos in Mexico.

According to the case, the Prosecutor's office, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), were in search of López-Mendoza, for suspicion of having links with drug traffickers in Mexico.

On August 13th, officers were doing a routine operation in the area of Escazú* in the province of San Jose. During that time, officials signaled some cars to stop. One driver ignored the order of the officers, and instead drove away, said the judicial agents in their report.

"The officer requested reinforcements from other police officers who were in the area, among these there were judicial agents," said the agents in their statement.

Judicial agents managed to make the car stop and then confirmed the driver was Lopez-Mendoza, who was traveling with at least three other people.

According to the agents' report in April, judicial agents were informed about the alleged link of López-Mendoza to a gang of robbers, who called themselves Revolutionary Organization of Crime, knows as Moreco by its acronym in Spanish.

This gang was related to robberies in supermarkets and ATMs. Also, investigations had been carried out in collaboration with the DEA and FBI that linked them with international drug trafficking.

On April 23rd, judicial agents made several raids in the area of Grecia, Orotina, and Guapiles.

In those raids, the agents reported the detention of seven suspects who they believed of belonged to the gang, however, López-Mendoza escaped.

In August 2018, during another raid in the area of Garabito, in Puntarenas, agents entered the property of López-Mendoza where the police confiscated more than a thousand kilos of cocaine and 15 firearms including an AR-15 assault rifle.

According to the police report, López-Mendoza was taken to the cells of the Public Ministry, where he was interviewed by the judicial agents and a judge ordered six months as pre-trial measures against him.






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What else could the government do to track down drug trafficking gangs? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com

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