cocaine trafficking

Costa Rican authorities have seized 2,147 kilos of cocaine already this month.

The four men arrested — three Nicaraguans and a Costa Rican — did not have criminal records. If convicted, they would face up to 20 years in prison.

A plane believed to be connected to drug trafficking crashed off the shores of Puerto Jiménez early Tuesday morning. Police found a body floating near the wreckage.

Costa Rica authorities conducted 29 raids Tuesday in multiple locations throughout the Central Valley targeting a large organized criminal network directed from La Reforma Prison, outside the Costa Rican capital.

Days after Costa Rican authorities arrested seven suspects in connection to an Italian cocaine-smuggling ring, Interpol officers say that mafia groups like the 'ndrangheta are looking to enter the crowded field of drug traffickers in Central America.

The rebels are holding 60 to 80 more children in hard-to-reach areas, the Peruvian government says.

The Costa Rican Coast Guard on Thursday took custody of three Costa Rican men arrested by the U.S. Coast Guard earlier this month. The suspects were caught with nearly 2 metric tons of cocaine, according to a statement from the Public Security Ministry.

Costa Rica’s main port in Limón has been unable to bring two Chinese-donated X-ray scanners fully online six years after they were donated. The scanners lack Internet and electrical connections and can't be operated in the rain.

The street value of the cocaine was estimated at $2 million.

Tuesday afternoon a U.S. surveillance plane spotted a suspicious ship 36 nautical miles off the coast of Quepos, Puntarenas that ended up carrying at least 810 kilograms of cocaine, according to a Public Security Ministry statement Wednesday. One of the traffickers had a sizable rap sheet, including extortion and aggravated robbery.