Costa Rica on Friday extradited two of its own citizens to the United States on drug trafficking charges, marking the first time the country has sent nationals abroad to face criminal prosecution.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office carried out the extraditions at about 8:55 a.m. from Juan Santamaría International Airport in Alajuela. The two men, identified by the surnames Gamboa-Sánchez and López-Vega, were turned over to U.S. marshals, federal law enforcement officers within the Department of Justice.

They were flown on a Beechcraft King Air 350 aircraft provided by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration used in the operation had arrived in the country on Thursday.

Costa Rican authorities said they approved the final document required to complete the extradition process last week. The document, submitted by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, included a plea agreement guaranteeing that any sentence imposed would not exceed 50 years if the suspects are convicted.

Gamboa previously held several high-ranking government positions in Costa Rica. He served as vice minister of public security from 2010 to 2011, vice minister of the presidency and director of intelligence and security in 2014, and later that year as minister of public security.

He also served as Costa Rica’s anti-drug commissioner and worked as a prosecutor in the provinces of Limón, San José, Alajuela and Cartago. In 2015, he was appointed deputy prosecutor of the Public Ministry, and in 2016, he became a magistrate on the Supreme Court of Justice.

In February, a Costa Rican court approved the deferred extradition of Gamboa and López, marking the first time the country authorized the extradition of its own citizens to face criminal charges abroad.

In August 2025, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated both men for their alleged involvement in narcotics trafficking and money laundering.