Costa Rica drug trade

The Colombian government announced Tuesday that 116 tons of cocaine had been seized in a month and a half of joint military operations with countries in America and Europe.

With the help of the United States, Colombia and Costa Rica, the authorities of these countries seek to curb drug trafficking in the region.

Much of the drug that arrives in the United States and Europe leaves the producing countries of South America and transits through Central America, including Costa Rica.

Costa Rica also figured in the data, accounting for 16% of the cocaine seized in Antwerp.

Authorities found 1,246 packages of marijuana on the beach totaling 947 kilos. 

Costa Rica and other Central American countries serve as a bridge for drug trafficking from South American countries to the United States and Europe.

The funding, which is part of a budget signed by U.S. President Donald Trump, amounts to a 33-percent increase over last year, according to the Foreign Ministry. 

Michael Soto Rojas, the Minister of Public Security, said the effort — which involved MSP, National Police and the country's Air Surveillance Service — demonstrated the importance of cooperation between Costa Rica's police forces.

One day after a drug plane crashed off the Osa Peninsula, authorities reported the discovery of dozens of illegal airstrips all along Costa Rica's Pacific coast.

Costa Rica's Health Ministry has included the anaesthetic ketamine in the country's list of controlled substances following an increase in overdoses.