Costa Rica seizes 771 kilos of cocaine in two police operations

Costa Rican authorities seized 771 kilos of cocaine in two operations carried out on Sunday along the Pacific and Caribbean coastlines, the government said Monday.

The first operation was carried out in the early hours of Sunday, when the Coast Guard service found 531 kilos of cocaine in a fishing boat sailing in the North Pacific of Costa Rica, Public Security Minister Michael Soto told a news conference .

He indicated that the drug was hidden in a compartment of the ship where three Ecuadorians were hidden. They were arrested along with five Costa Ricans who were traveling on the boat.

“They are habitual fishermen of the Puntarenas sector who are recruited by drug traffickers to transfer drugs. The three Ecuadorians are probably fishermen too,” Soto said.

In the second operation in the afternoon, Drug Control Police located a container in the Caribbean port of Moín with 240 kilos of cocaine. The cargo was on a ship from Colon, in Panama, whose destination was Belgium.

Soto said the drug was in seven suitcases camouflaged between barrels loaded with honey.

Costa Rica and other Central American countries serve as a bridge for drug trafficking from South American countries to the United States and Europe.