Costa Rica cops seize 900 kilos of cocaine at Pacific port

Costa Rican anti-drug police on Sunday seized 901 kilograms of cocaine and arrested nine members of a drug trafficking crew, among them four Colombians, two Nicaraguans, a Panamanian and two Costa Ricans.

Public Security Minister Mario Zamora announced the bust following a three-day police operation in Quepos, on the central Pacific coast 170 kilometers west of the capital.

Zamora said the drugs likely came from Colombia and were discovered in a luxury residence 1 km from the center of the port town, hidden underneath mattresses.

Officials say drug traffickers used the house as a storage point for shipments north to the United States – the world’s biggest illicit drug consumer nation – via Mexico.

Police also confiscated four vehicles and three firearms during the operation.

Costa Rica has seized some 5.3 tons of cocaine already this year, officials said.