Costa Rican anti-corruption prosecutors detained an immigration officer on Wednesday and searched her workplace and her home as part of an investigation into whether she helped a foreign national — flagged as high-risk and allegedly connected to an international terrorist organization — enter the country under false pretenses.
The Fiscalía Adjunta de Probidad, Transparencia y Anticorrupción (Fapta), the prosecutorial unit that handles public-integrity cases, carried out three searches on Wednesday morning, two of them inside Juan Santamaría International Airport and one at the officer’s home, the Ministerio Público said. Investigators said the operation was aimed at securing evidence relevant to the case.
The officer, identified by prosecutors only by her surname, Barquero, worked for the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería, Costa Rica’s immigration authority, at the San Jose airport. According to the Ministerio Público, she allegedly facilitated and staged the formal entry of a foreign national who was here with irregular immigration status.
Prosecutors allege that she altered government computer systems, entered false information and improperly stamped an immigration seal in the man’s passport, steps they say were intended to bypass the mandatory border-control alerts that apply to anyone entering national territory.
Intelligence assessments cited by authorities describe the foreign national as high-risk and allegedly linked to an international terrorist organization. He remains in custody while immigration authorities process the cancellation of his legal status in Costa Rica, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Barquero would give an initial statement before being brought before the Juzgado Penal de Hacienda y de la Función Pública, in the Second Judicial Circuit of San José, where the Ministerio Público will ask the court to impose precautionary measures. She has not been formally charged, and the allegations against her remain under investigation.
The case, filed under record number 26-000215-1218-PE, is being investigated jointly with the Policía Profesional de Migración. Prosecutors said they are also working to establish whether an organized structure operates behind the alleged scheme, and to prevent further irregular entries that could pose a national security risk.
The detention comes as Costa Rica reshuffles security at its busiest port of entry. Authorities confirmed this week that Drug Control Police officers would return to Juan Santamaría, and Migración has been testing a biometric identification system at the airport as it modernizes border control. The Barquero case now puts the integrity of that same border-control system at the center of a criminal investigation.
