Arrested with more than 3 kilograms of cocaine in his suitcase, the tourist becomes the first drug mule caught in Costa Rica this year, according to the Public Security Ministry.
Police operations carried out by the Public Security Ministry during 2014 resulted in the seizure of seven tons of processed marijuana and the elimination of 872,923 marijuana plants, Minister Celso Gamboa reported on Tuesday.
After at least two significant cocaine seizures from shipping containers in Europe that originated in Costa Rica during 2014, the government has yet to bring online two X-ray scanners donated six years ago at its Limón port.
Public Security Minister Celso Gamboa on Monday reported that joint patrols in recent weeks by the U.S. and Costa Rican coast guards have netted almost 1.5 metric tons of cocaine and led to the arrest of 11 suspects.
In the last voting of Tuesday's full legislative session, lawmakers approved docking permission for 44 U.S. Coast Guard vessels that will conduct joint-patrol operations with Costa Rican authorities from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2015.
As the latest seizure of cocaine at the Peñas Blancas border crossing was tallied Tuesday morning, Public Security Minister Celso Gamboa announced that Costa Rica's annual haul of the illicit drug is set to exceed 26 metric tons this year, breaking 2013’s record of 21.8 metric tons.
President Luis Guillermo Solís seems to have figured out that the key to flying in a jet with a tainted history is to do so after the police have seized it and given it a fresh coat of paint, and not while its owner is suspected of having links to drug cartels, an oversight that rocked former President Laura Chinchilla (2010-2014).
The latest annual estimate came during the announcement of two seizures over the weekend totaling more than 600 kilos of cocaine in Peñas Blancas, the country’s only land border crossing with Nicaragua.
The King Air F90, rechristened MSP 020, was seized while carrying a metric ton of cocaine in Costa Rica. The plane has since changed its feathers and has participated in an ambulatory mission and a historic flight to Isla del Coco.
Dark Alliance rattled a lot of cages – it led to a Congressional investigation, and ultimately a CIA Inspector General’s report, which would corroborate some of Webb’s findings. But the San Jose Mercury News’ scoop also shook up a lot of the newspaper world. The New York Times, L.A. Times, and The Washington Post all went after Gary Webb to tear down his credibility and that of the story.
