The Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) made their first arrest May 13 in connection to the attempted jailbreak at the maximum security La Reforma prison on May 11 (TT, May 13).
The OIJ raided the apartment of a man with the last name Chávez, who is suspected of being an accomplice in the escape attempt. In his apartment in Alajuela, near the prison north of San José, the OIJ recovered weapons, explosives and equipment that allegedly linked him with Erlyn Hurtado and Johel Araya, the two men that organized the escape attempt. Chávez will be held in preventive prison while the case is investigated.
In addition to the arrest, the Prosecutor’s Office said this week that a drug trafficking ring could have played a part in the attempted escape.
“We are investigating the case to see if drug trafficking was behind the escape attempt,” Edith Morera, an attorney at the Prosecutor’s Office told The Tico Times this week. “Though we are yet to make a direct link to drug trafficking, it is possible that it was the motivation for the incident.”
