A day after Costa Rica carried out the largest police operation in its history, authorities have arrested three children of extradited drug suspect Edwin López Vega, alias “Pecho de Rata,” and confirmed that several other relatives — including his wife — remain at large, two of them believed to be in Switzerland.
The arrests deepen the case known as Riverside, the sprawling investigation the Tico Times reported on yesterday, which the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) and the Prosecutor’s Office describe as the dismantling of only the second organization in the country to meet the criteria of a cartel.
According to the OIJ, agents detained three of López Vega’s children — two men and a woman, all surnamed López Tyndall — on Tuesday afternoon at a hotel in Cahuita, on the southern Caribbean coast, after receiving a confidential tip that they were staying there. They had been reported as fugitives earlier in the day, when investigators arrived at their homes to find them already gone. A fourth child and López Vega’s 29-year-old wife, surnamed Smith De la O, are still being sought; authorities say she and a second woman, a professional model, are believed to be in Switzerland, and the OIJ is coordinating with European authorities to locate them.
The Cahuita raids carried an unusual cost for travelers as guests at one of the targeted properties, the Hotel Vaz, were evacuated at around 3 a.m. on Tuesday as officers moved in. The hotel is among the businesses authorities allege were used to launder drug proceeds in a stretch of coastline that is one of Costa Rica’s most popular destinations for backpackers, surfers and long-stay foreign visitors.
In all, the operation involved roughly 1,500 agents and about 146 searches across five areas — Limón, Heredia, Cartago, San José and Alajuela — along with units inside three prisons. Officials initially targeted 79 people; by Tuesday evening they reported dozens of new arrests, with others already in custody on separate cases and roughly two dozen suspects still being pursued. Arrest tallies varied through the day as the operation remained active, and the OIJ cautioned that figures could change.
Prosecutors say the network continued operating even after López Vega was extradited to the United States in March — one of the first Costa Ricans handed over under a constitutional reform allowing the extradition of nationals for drug trafficking. Investigators allege his children and wife stepped into leadership roles, with the case file describing one son, a former professional footballer, as a co-leader who managed front businesses, and the wife as a trusted money manager. Also among those named are two ex–first-division footballers and two prison officers accused of relaying the suspect’s messages from the maximum-security wing at La Reforma before his extradition.
The OIJ estimates the organization’s real assets at close to â‚¡10 billion (roughly $19 million), far above their registered value. Seized items include six hotels, four luxury homes rented through digital platforms, a restaurant, a gym, a bullring, a five-a-side football pitch, cattle farms, boats and high-end vehicles.
Authorities say the group received drug shipments by sea from the Colombian Caribbean — supplied by a group known as “Los Costeños” — landing on the southern Caribbean coast near Cahuita, the detail that gave the operation its name. The marijuana was destined for the domestic market and the cocaine for re-export north, investigators say.
In a family home, agents reported finding a painting in which López Vega styled himself “the czar of the south.” The Prosecutor’s Office says it will request pretrial detention for those arrested, citing the scale of the structure and the wealth attributed to it.
The timing is striking as López Vega was captured in Cahuita exactly one year earlier, on June 23, 2025, and held for extradition. A year on, the same town became the stage for the operation aimed at finishing off what authorities call his criminal legacy.
This is a developing story. The Tico Times will update as suspects appear before a judge and as the OIJ confirms final figures.
