A Tico male (a term used for a native of Costa Rica) identified by the last name Santos-Fonseca and wanted for drug trafficking, was deported from the United States with the assistance of Interpol and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), authorities said.

DEA agents escorted the 30-year-old man to Costa Rica and handed him over to local authorities at Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) in Alajuela Province after arriving on a flight from the U.S.

Santos was the subject of an Interpol Red Notice after being convicted of drug trafficking in 2018, according to the Judicial Investigation Organization (OIJ).

The Pococí Court in Limón Province sentenced Santos to six years in prison, but he fled to the U.S. before serving his full sentence.

U.S. authorities arrested Santos last week for illegal entry. DEA agents later took him into custody and facilitated his extradition to Costa Rica, which was completed on Friday.

The United States and Costa Rica established an extradition treaty in 1982, ratified by Costa Rica’s Congress in 1991. The agreement strengthens cooperation between the two countries in combating crime and extraditing fugitives.

Santos' case is one of several recent extraditions between Costa Rica and the U.S. In early March, Interpol agents deported a 51-year-old Ecuadorian national, identified by the surname Pinto, to the United States under a similar Red Notice.

The OIJ, a division of Costa Rica’s Supreme Court of Justice, oversees criminal investigations and has nationwide jurisdiction.