No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeCrimeCosta Rica and Spain dismantle criminal network that kidnapped U.S. citizen

Costa Rica and Spain dismantle criminal network that kidnapped U.S. citizen

Costa Rican and Spanish authorities carried out simultaneous raids Friday and detained 12 people in an operation to dismantle a network suspected of extortive kidnapping of a United States businessman who remains missing, Costa Rican police said.

The raids were made in the Spanish city of Zaragoza and several locations around the Costa Rican capital, reported the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) of the Central American country.

The three alleged leaders of the gang of kidnappers were captured in Zaragoza thanks to collaboration with the Spanish police, said Walter Espinoza, director of Costa Rica’s OIJ.

The three leaders of the group, a Costa Rican named Morales Vega, his mother and his partner, moved to Spain after the kidnapping of the U.S. businessman, which occurred last September.

The Costa Rican prosecutor’s office said in a statement that it obtained court orders for all three to be moved from Spain to Costa Rica.

Among the detainees in Costa Rica are the grandmother and an uncle of the leader of the gang, as well as two officers of the Traffic Police, surnames Jirón López and Medrano Vargas.

During the raids, the police confiscated firearms, cell phones, computers, vehicles and papers with notes, among other evidences, according to Espinoza.

The case goes back to the night of Sept. 24 in the town of Granadilla, east of San José, when United States citizen William Sean Creighton Kopko was kidnapped.

[Editor’s Note: Kopko is the owner of sportsbook 5Dimes.]  

Espinoza said the suspects followed the abductee with the alleged collaboration of the two traffic officials and took him to a site that has not yet been determined.

The kidnappers demanded that Kopko’s relatives pay almost $1 million in the virtual currency Bitcoin, according to the prosecution.

After the events, the three leaders of the kidnapping network moved to Cuba, where they stayed more than a month before traveling to Alicante and then Zaragoza, in Spain.

Watch OIJ’s press conference below:

Support the Tico Times

Trending Now

Costa Rica Fails to Meet Human Rights Standards for Deportees

The Ombudsman's Office has confirmed that Costa Rica was unprepared to provide adequate care for deportees who have entered the country since February. This...

UN Denounces Guatemala Over ‘Inhuman’ Indigenous Evictions

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, called on the Guatemalan government on Friday to halt the “inhuman”...

From New Jersey Ponds to Costa Rica’s Mud Turtles: A Wildlife Story

In a weird way, stinky turtles have led to my current life as a guy in Costa Rica working in wildlife monitoring. Up until...

Costa Rica Seeks New Air Routes Amid Decline in European Tourism

Costa Rica is working to increase the number of international flights entering the country, as it faces a concerning drop in tourist arrivals.  The...

Panama Farmer Receives Land Title After 60-Year Wait at Age 109

A 109-year-old Panamanian farmer has received the land title for the property where he lives and works—six decades after first requesting it from the...

Massive Cocaine Seizure at Costa Rica’s Moín Terminal Targets UK

Costa Rican police intercepted 810 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a banana shipment at the Moín Container Terminal in Limón headed for the United...
spot_img
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait
Costa Rica Travel

Latest News from Costa Rica