Police raids and searches throughout the country this month have yielded 226 kilograms of cocaine and various illegal firearms.
Drug Control Police claimed they dismantled a drug gang during simultaneous raids in neighborhoods of San José on Aug. 1.
Five suspects, four Ticos and one Panamanian, were arrested. Three kilograms of cocaine were seized, along with two pistols, two AK-47 assault rifles and an Israeli-made Galil assault rifle.
Also on Aug. 1, National Police confiscated 110 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a bean shipment in a truck driven by a Tico. The driver was arrested near the border of Panama.
On July 30, Judicial Investigation Police conducted raids in San José and Paso Canoas, on the border with Panama. They arrested six Ticos and one Colombian and seized 74 kilograms of cocaine. The Colombian, last name Bedoya, is wanted in Colombia on murder charges.
“The investigations started about a month ago led police to discover the ringleader lived in Paso Canoas and was in charge of receiving drugs from Colombia via Panama and coordinating their transport to Guatemala via land,” states a Judicial Investigation Police press release.
On July 29, National Police arrested two Mexicans in the northwestern province of Guanacaste as they tried to cross into Nicaragua after officials discovered they were carrying 39 kilograms of cocaine and $5,600 in cash. They have been ordered to three months of preventive prison while the case is investigated.
–Nick Wilkinson
