Costa Rican Coast Guard nabs fishing boat with 900 kilos of cocaine

Officers from the Costa Rican Coast Guard on Sunday seized 963 kilograms of cocaine from a fishing boat near the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, in the Pacific Ocean.

Public Security Minister Mario Zamora on Monday said the seizure was part of a joint patrol with the U.S. Coast Guard.

Zamora said at a press conference that the crew of three Costa Ricans and one Nicaraguan was arrested and sent to Ecuador for booking.

Public Security Ministry officials have requested that Ecuador send the three Costa Rican nationals here to be tried in Costa Rica.

The minister said officials also are performing background checks on the detainees to verify if they have criminal records.

Last November, agents from Costa Rica’s Drug Control Police captured the same fishing vessel, named “Capitán Pearson,” with 1,081 kilograms of cocaine on board, Zamora said.

At the time, four people were arrested after transferring the drug shipment from an Ecuadorian boat. However, a judge ordered the boat returned to its owners pending trial in that case.