A man with the last name Rojas Mendiola, a resident of Drake Bay in Osa, Puntarenas was detained by the Judicary Investigative Police (OIJ) as a suspect of working with a Colombian drug trafficking group assisting in the logistics to transport drugs coming from Colombia and going to North America.

The drug trafficking group which has established operations in Costa Rica moved cocaine and marijuana from Colombia, it was stored in Costa Rica for a few days and it was then moved to North America, part of the drugs also remained in Costa Rica for local commerce.
Rojas Mendiola, known as “Cangreja”, worked recruiting fishermen and other people that worked in tourism to help store and transport the drugs.

According to Walter Espinoza, director of OIJ, commented that the investigations involving Cangreja began in 2018, however, they didn’t have enough proofs to proceed with his arrest until now. The suspect’s economic situation changed dramatically in the past few years, he purchased a hotel in the area and owned two modern vehicles.

As part of this operation another 9 people were detained, among them a Colombian of last names Racines Arroyo, who was arrested in Heredia, where apparently some of the drugs were stored. The man known as “The Engineer” owned three supermarkets and a tire business