Costa Rican Coast Guard and police seized nearly 500 kilos of cocaine hidden in a container along with guns and ammunition in a boat in the Caribbean port of Limón on Thursday, reported the Public Security Minister.
Drug Control Police found the cocaine in the early morning under a double floor of a container located in the outskirts of Limón that had entered the country on a boat originating at a Colombian port, according to the source.
Also in the early hours of the morning Thursday, officials from the Coast Guard’s National Service intercepted a suspicious boat, that, when pursued, was abandoned along the coast of the Cieneguita neighborhood, one of the most dangerous in Limón, 170 kilometers east of San José.
“There are approximately 500 kilos in the container, this is an important strike. This is added to the interception of a boat in Cieneguita that was heading out to sea […] this is part of the logistics, the fabric of drug trafficking in our country,” said Public Security Minister Mario Zamora.
In the boat, that was unregistered, the Coast Guard found five firearms, ammunition, 20 containers of fuel, over $1,000 and bags of food.
There were no arrests in either of the operations. “The Coast Guard chased the crew off the vessel, who fled into a wooded area,” according to a statement from the Public Security ministry.
So far this year, Costa Rican authorities have seized more than 9.2 tons of cocaine. In 2012, 15.5 tons were seized and 80 tons seized across the isthmus.
Central America, along with Mexico, forms the bridge over which 90 percent of the cocaine travels destined for the United States, the world’s largest market for the drug.
