Costa Rica seizes 2.5 tons of cocaine in two operations

Costa Rican authorities seized 2.5 tons of cocaine in two separate operations carried out on the Pacific and Caribbean coastlines, the government said Friday.

In one of the actions, anti-drug officials found a ton and a half of cocaine in a container that arrived at the Caribbean port of Moín from Panama.

Deputy Minister of Security Eduardo Solano told reporters that the ship carrying the container was inspected by police after they received an alert from Panamanian authorities.

He indicated that the container carried cylinders of a chemical substance, so they required the intervention of firefighters to ensure the safe withdrawal of the drug.

On the other coast, a ton of cocaine was confiscated by the Border Police after detecting a boat that ran aground in Punta Burica, in the South Pacific, near the border with Panama.

Solano said authorities observed three men unloading the boat and subsequently located two others.

The patrol arrested the five men, four of them Colombians and one Costa Rican, according to Solano. He noted that the boat left a South American country but did not specify which one.

Much of the drug that arrives in the United States and Europe leaves the producing countries of South America and transits through Central America.