Costa Rica participated in the international anti-drug operation Atlas Nexus, a coordinated effort with the European Union that helped identify and dismantle transnational criminal networks.

According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the operation, led by the European Union, involved security forces, customs authorities and judicial agencies from Latin America, the Caribbean and other regions of the world.

In Costa Rica, the operation resulted in the Judicial Investigation Organization, known as the OIJ, seizing more than 27.8 tons of drugs, including 24.5 tons of cocaine and 3.2 tons of cannabis, as well as 181 firearms.

Costa Rican authorities arrested 375 people, while 14 victims were rescued and provided with assistance.

Assets seized in Costa Rica included 169 properties, 800 head of cattle and 464 pieces of jewelry.

The operation coincided with one of the largest police actions in Costa Rica’s judicial history. Led by the OIJ, the operation targeted a transnational criminal network involved in trafficking cocaine from Colombia through the country’s southern Caribbean coast and onward to Europe.

According to the authorities, one of the most significant arrests took place in July, when Costa Rican national Alejandro Arias-Monge, also known as “Diablo” (Devil), was arrested. Arias-Monge was described as the country’s most-wanted fugitive and the alleged leader of a major drug-trafficking organization.

Several other drug-trafficking suspects were also detained and are subject to extradition proceedings. Six transfers of detainees requested by other countries were carried out.

The most recent extradition of a Costa Rican national occurred in August, when a 63-year-old man identified by the surname Bell-Fernández was extradited to the United States to face drug-trafficking charges.

In terms of the volume of seizures and the number of countries involved, Atlas Nexus was the largest joint operation against organized crime carried out to date.

Led by the Belgian Federal Police, the operation was coordinated and jointly carried out by intelligence and law enforcement agencies, including the European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats, or EMPACT, which focuses on the most dangerous criminal networks and individuals.

The operation focused on identifying and dismantling polycriminal networks and high-value targets, seizing assets obtained through illicit activities, launching new investigations and detecting associated document fraud across five priority criminal markets: drug trafficking, human trafficking, document fraud, firearms trafficking and environmental crime.

The operation’s most significant result was not only the volume of illegal drugs seized, which totaled nearly 160 tons, but also the number of criminal structures identified and dismantled.

More than 490 arrests in Latin America and the Caribbean were linked to the dismantling of multiple networks whose routes connect the two regions.

When criminal organizations operate on an international scale, intercepting shipments is not enough. The goal is to dismantle the structures that make those shipments possible and deprive criminal organizations of the resources that sustain them.

Among the actions carried out were the identification and dismantling of the first cocaine-processing laboratory detected in Ireland, as well as two newly identified illegal gold-mining operations in French Guiana.

Seizures in Latin America and the Caribbean included 37 tons of cocaine, 118 tons of cannabis, 201 firearms, more than 3,000 rounds of ammunition and explosives, more than 800 wild and farm animals, $135,000 in cash and cryptocurrencies, nearly 170 properties and more than 460 pieces of jewelry, among other items.

During the operation, 37 INTERPOL notices were issued, including 17 Red Notices.

The operation in Latin America involved more than 8,680 police officers and judicial authorities. They participated in various national operations to inspect 110 aircraft, 28 vessels, 415 vehicles and 271 containers at 28 designated checkpoints in ports, airports and along roads.

A total of 595 search warrants were executed.

Authorities from 35 countries participated in the operation. Countries reporting significant results included Germany, Argentina, Australia, Barbados, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominica, Ecuador, Slovenia, the United States, France, Grenada, Greece, Guyana, Hungary, Ireland, Jamaica, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, the United Kingdom, the Dominican Republic, Romania, Saint Lucia, Switzerland, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Regional and international organizations also participated in the operation, including AMERIPOL, CARICOM IMPACS, EUROPOL, FRONTEX, INTERPOL, MAOC(N) and the Regional Security System, or RSS, as well as the European programs CRIMARIO II and SEACOP VI.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office is responsible for directing criminal investigations and prosecuting criminal cases throughout Costa Rica.

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What other strategy could Costa Rica pursue in the fight against illegal drug trafficking? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com

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