Public Security Minister Michael Soto said at a Friday morning press conference that Costa Rican authorities have seized 1,002 kilograms of cocaine that were being transported in a fishing boat 53 nautical miles off the coast of Puntarenas.
The boat, named “Princeso Claudio” and captained by a 45-year-old Costa Rican, had a crew of four people on board when it was intercepted Wednesday by Costa Rica’s Coast Guard.
The seizure was part of a joint effort between the Public Security Ministry (MSP), Drug Control Police, the Coast Guard, Air Surveillance Service and the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Soto said.
Costa Rican authorities have seized 2,147 kilos of cocaine and arrested 13 people already this month in Costa Rica, Soto said.
MSP has also provided information that helped Mexican and Guatemalan police confiscate nearly 550 kilos of cocaine in their respective countries from airplanes that had traveled through Costa Rica.
