Costa Rican police thank drug traffickers for new plane

The Public Security Ministry (MSP) has a new plane, thanks to some drug traffickers.

The King Air F90, rechristened MSP 020, was seized while carrying a metric ton of cocaine in Costa Rica. The plane has since changed its feathers and has participated in an ambulatory mission and a historic flight to Isla del Coco.

“This plane was confiscated [when it was used for] drug trafficking, and now it is used to fight this same activity,” said Oldemar Madrigal, director of MSP’s Air Patrol division, SVA.

Unbelievably, MSP 020 is the only Costa Rican police plane with the means to fly to the remote Isla del Coco, in the Pacific, turning a 36-hour boat trip into a brief hour-and-a-half hop.

“Costa Rica today has an air fleet that for the first time has the ability to carry out an aerial patrol to Isla del Coco. This is the first time that the Public Security Ministry has reached 22,000 feet with its own resources,” Gamboa said, according to an MSP statement.

A view from the cockpit of a one-time drug plane that authorities confiscated for anti-drug patrols, including one to Isla del Coco. (Courtesy Public Security Ministry)