Contraband

The 12,428 tablets, pills, vials and other items the 39-year-old suspect carried included amoxicillin, tetracycline, and diclofenac, among others.

Cops seized 597 cases of booze, including rum, whiskey, tequila and beer, worth an estimated ₡20 million ($38,000).

A joint operation involving officials from three government agencies on Tuesday resulted in the confiscation of 10,687 cigarettes that entered the country under irregular circumstances, confirmed the Public Security Ministry (MSP).

Liquor, beer and cigarettes are the three most common items that smugglers transport across the border. Fiscal Control Police last year confiscated 123,072 bottles of beer, 36,464 bottles of whisky and more than 21 million cigarettes.

Officers of the National Police and the Fiscal Control Police at the community of Paso Canoas, next to the Panama border, on Thursday seized a shipment of liquor with an approximate value of ₡20 million (some $38,000) hidden inside a tanker.

A joint operation of several police units last Sunday led to the seizure of 200,000 packs of cigarettes that entered the country without paying taxes through the Caribbean port of Limón.

Barely one hour after the official opening of a new police checkpoint at Kilometer 35 of the southern stretch of the Inter-American Highway, National Police officers seized a shipment of contraband merchandise inside a bus owned by a company that travels between Panama and Costa Rica, the Public Security Ministry reported.

It looks like even smugglers are getting into the World Cup spirit after Costa Rica's upset victory over Uruguay.

Border Police over the weekend conducted 25 operations along Costa Rica's northern border with Nicaragua, confiscating approximately ₡10 million ($18,000) in contraband from smugglers.

Contraband might seem like a good deal, but law enforcement officials argue that the illicit trade aids money launderers, weakens an already strained tax collection system and could even pose a health hazard.