Sadly, this is not the first time this happens, the Costa Rican Police (Fuerza Publica) and the Municipal Police found this Friday a hydroponic marijuana lab with 317 plants in a luxury house in Guachipelin, Escazu.

The Police and Fire Department were alerted of an explosion that occurred in a house in the residential Pinares del Rio, when the authorities arrived they realized the explosion occurred due to a malfunction in the air conditioning system, as a consequence a 37 year-old man suffered burns in different parts of his body and was transferred by his father to the Santa Ana Red Cross.

When the police entered the house they found the lab set up in four different rooms with air conditioning system.
The father and son remain under custody and the case is now under investigation by the Drug Control Police.
This is not the first time a situation like this occurs. Since 2003 the police have found 47 laboratories of hydroponic marijuana in locations such as Heredia, Jacó, Cartago, San Pedro, among others.

Usually the drug dealers rent houses in nice residential areas to avoid police raids and hoping to go by unnoticed. The houses are then transformed into a laboratory with all the necessary technology. Extremely high electricity bills and unusual activity in the houses are two of the signs that usually alert the house owners of an unusual situation.

Authorities call on the neighbors and general population to stay alert of abnormal situations in their communities and report any suspicious activity to the confidential police lines: 1176 or 800-8000-645.