A coordinated drug enforcement operation led by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Costa Rican authorities over the weekend resulted in the arrest of the former deputy mayor of Golfito, a coastal canton in southern Costa Rica, along with two other suspects.

The former official, identified by the last name Vindas-Aguilar, was taken into custody after U.S. agents flagged two 4x4 vehicles traveling through San José as potentially connected to drug trafficking. The Ministry of Public Security (MSP) confirmed the arrest.

In response to the DEA alert, a joint task force of Costa Rican agencies, including the Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office, the Drug Control Police (PCD), the Special Support Unit (UEA), and the Directorate of Intelligence and Criminal Analysis (DIAC), launched a search for the vehicles. Officers successfully intercepted them at separate checkpoints in the capital: one in the Rohrmoser district and another in Sabana Sur, just a few kilometers apart.

Authorities discovered dozens of packages of cocaine concealed in hidden compartments beneath the car seats.

Vindas and another Costa Rican man, identified by the surname Sandoval, were traveling in one vehicle. The third suspect, a Salvadoran national with the last name Posada, was in the second.

Police seized both vehicles, the drugs, and several electronic devices as evidence. The PCD later confirmed the shipment included 38 kilograms of cocaine.

“The drugs were intended to be shipped to the United States,” said Stephen Madden, director of the Drug Control Police.

All three suspects were placed in custody and transferred to a detention facility under the jurisdiction of the San José Public Ministry. A judge ordered them held in pretrial detention for three months as they face international drug trafficking charges.

Vindas previously served as deputy mayor of Golfito from 2016 to 2020.

Authorities urged the public to report suspicious activity via Costa Rica’s confidential anti-narcotics hotline at 800-8000-645 or the rapid-response line at 1176, both of which offer bilingual support in English and Spanish.

According to MSP statistics, Costa Rica has already seized nearly 32 metric tons of cocaine and 15 tons of marijuana in 2024. The country continues to report record drug confiscations, including 72.7 tons in 2020 and 71.1 tons in 2021.

The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) partners closely with Costa Rican security forces, offering training, equipment, and technical support. To date, the U.S. has provided over $270 million in bilateral and regional security assistance, aimed at modernizing Costa Rica’s law enforcement, improving judicial processes, and combating transnational criminal networks.

Costa Rica’s Ministry of Public Security leads national anti-crime efforts and works in ongoing collaboration with U.S. agencies to dismantle organized crime groups and disrupt drug trafficking routes.

This case is part of a broader series of coordinated anti-narcotics efforts between the DEA and Costa Rican law enforcement. Most recently, the DEA supported the seizure of nearly 500 kilograms of cocaine.