It’s the third month of a 100-day saturation sweep of Costa Rica’s Carribean Limón province, and authorities say the results have been “surprising.”
The operation, launched in July, is intended to “clean the streets” of crack addicts and drug dealers, Public Security Minister Janina del Vecchio said at the time.
According to a press release, police since then have seized 184 firearms, 184 crack rocks, 43 vehicles and 1.3 kilograms of cocaine as a result of the campaign. The Drug Control Police claims to have destroyed 300,000 marijuana shrubs in the canton of Talamanca. So far, 61 checkpoints and 26 river patrols were set up and 100 people were arrested for drug, firearms, domestic violence, assault on a police officer and immigration violations.
The sweep has focused mostly on the city of Limón. Other areas in Limón province, such as tourist hub Puerto Viejo, have seen little police action during the operation.
Eddie Ryan, the owner of the Costa Papito hotel in Playa and vice president of the Southern Caribbean’s tourism chamber, said he’s seen little law enforcement activity in the area during the “sweep.”
“We’re totally abandoned here,” he said.
