Booze bootleggers busted after bribe backfires

National Police officers conducting a routine inspection on a road in the Caribbean province of Limón on Tuesday evening stopped a truck allegedly transporting seafood. Instead of shrimp, officers found a shipment of bootlegged liquor.

A Tico surnamed Velásquez and a Salvadoran woman surnamed Ramírez could not produce documents to confirm the goods were legally purchased. Officers confiscated the vehicle and the cargo on tax evasion charges.

In their report, cops said the woman offered a ₡500,000 ($940) bribe and was subsequently arrested, along with the man.

Limón Police Director Allan Obando said the suspects were taken to a local prosecutor’s office, where the woman was charged with attempted bribery. The Fiscal Control Police (PCF) also plans on bringing tax evasion charges against the couple.

Obando said 597 cases of booze were seized, including rum, whiskey, tequila and beer, worth an estimated ₡20 million ($38,000).

National Police and PCF officers last August confiscated a similar shipment of contraband liquor hidden inside a tanker truck at Paso Canoas, on the border with Panama.