In San José, police raided last week what they said were known hangouts for street thugs and criminals, rounding up at least 245 people, according to a statement from the Public Security Ministry.
The sweeping raids – combined efforts by migration officers and agents from the Traffic Police and the Judicial Investigation Police – resulted in 69 arrests in the neighborhood of La Tabla de Desamparados, south of San José, 85 in San Sebastián, also south of San José, and 90 in the so-called “Tierras Dominicanas,” a sector just north of downtown along Avenida 7 near Calle 6.
Two vehicles were also impounded in the operations, according to a police press release.
In San Sebastián, officers dismantled a toll system that, according to police, crime rings had set up to extort money from anyone passing through and to deter police from entering.
The arrests come a week after a report in the daily La Nación that cited 600 known criminals were working the streets in and around the Costa Rican capital.
