The National Coast Guard Service of Costa Rica has been proudly protecting life, property and coastal ecosystems for nearly 15 years. The Costa Rica Star often publishes news reports about how the men and women of the Coast Guard in Costa Rica rescue marine species from poachers, capture drug smugglers, save people in the ocean, and prevent illegal fishing. This time, however, we bring you a report that questions the integrity of some Coast Guard officers.

According to online news daily Costa Rica Hoy, agents from the Office of Judicial Investigations (Spanish initials: OIJ) recently detained eight Coast Guard officers for allegedly attempting to keep confiscated catch that should have been destroyed. The incident took place at Coast Guard Station Flamingo in the province of Guanacaste. The OIJ agents had the officers under surveillance, and they knew that the suspects had been conducting security patrols near San Pedrillo island in the Santa Rosa National Park.

The Coast Guard officers boarded a motor vessel that was using illegal fishing gear and catching species out of season in a restricted area. The illegal catch seized included 26 octopi, an adult tuna, 50 Pacific red snappers, and other species that amounted to quite of bit of choice seafood.

Coast Guard procedures call for the destruction of catch that cannot be returned to its habitat. Alas, the eight Coast Guard officers from Station Flamingo reportedly wanted to take the catch home. As they left the station in privately-owned vehicles, the OIJ agents blocked their path and searched their cars, where they found coolers filled with the fish and the cephalopods seized earlier in the waters of the Santa Rosa National Park. The OIJ agents averred that the Coast Guard officers had completed and affidavit of destruction of illegal catch; however, it appears that the affidavit was executed under perjury.