2018 Will close in Costa Rica with a record amount of cocaine seized, over 26 tons so far this year. The surveillance operations of the National Coast Guard Service resulted in the interception of a vessel 81 kilometers from Quepos, Puntarenas, carrying over 500 kilograms of cocaine.

Authorities received an anonymous tip and immediately took action with the assistance of the US Coast Guard Service to locate the ship with 5 people aboard and a total of 501 packages of drug weighing 1 kilogram each.

The men arrested are a Costa Rican of last name Matarrita, an Ecuadorian of surname Murillo, a Nicaraguan identified with the last name Espinoza, and two Colombians of last names García and Calzada.

“The region of the Pacific is very important to us, since its used commonly for drug trafficking operations, to move drugs from the south of the continent. In this occasion, the National Coast Guard Service with the help of the US Coast Guard Service was able to successfully carry out this operation”, commented Michael Soto, Minister of Public Security.

Just a few days ago in this same region, another vessel loaded with 743 kilograms of cocaine was intercepted and in a different case, 27 bags of cocaine were found abandoned in Parrita with a total 268 kilograms of drug.

In Costa Rica a kilogram of cocaine has a price of approximately $8,000.00 USD, while in the United States the same quantity can sell for approximately $35,000.00 USD and in Europe for $60,000 USD, according to estimations by the Organism of Judicial Investigation (OIJ) and the Drug Control Police,

Costa Rica’s geographic position makes it an ideal bridge for the traffic of drugs from South to North America.