Costa Rica seizes 2.5 tons of cocaine from boat in Caribbean

Costa Rican authorities seized more than 2.5 tons of cocaine and detained six men, including a Honduran, who were transporting the drugs on a boat in the Caribbean, the Public Security Ministry reported on Friday.

The boat was captured early Thursday when it was sailing with the six crew near Cahuita, a beach popular with tourists within a national park, the ministry said in a statement.

The boat was detected by a police plane, which triggered a boat chase. The subjects were throwing the drug packages into the sea during their attempted escape, the statement said.

The six crew members abandoned ship on a beach in the area and tried to flee on foot, but they were arrested shortly after.

The six men captured — five Costa Ricans and one Honduran — were placed under the jurisdiction of the prosecutor’s office.

Costa Rica and other Central American countries are used as a bridge for cocaine trafficking from South American drug-producing countries to the consuming markets of the United States and Europe.