The Office of Judicial Investigations (OIJ) arrested this Wednesday morning 31 police officers from Limon who are suspects of illegal searches, abuse of authority, and stealing evidence.

The Minister of Security, Gustavo Mata, confirmed the information and explained that the operation was carried out in coordination with the judicial police. Apparently, the detained men are members of different police units, who were working together to battle the violent crimes that take place in this city mainly as a result of conflicts between drug trafficking groups; however, the OIJ received several reports of illegal behavior of the officers and therefore the Ministry ordered the investigation eight months ago.

27 of the arrested officers are men and the rest are women; according to the information provided a total of 5 formal reports were filed against them and at least 70 anonymous complaints were received by the authorities.

One of the reports refers to an abuse of authority that occurred in January 2017 when two men reported having been stopped and searched by five officers in the area of Cineguita, after this, they supposedly beat them up.

Another of the illegal actions apparently took place in February 2017 when a woman claims an illegal raid to her house after which money and a jewerly were missing. Two similar and separate incidents were reported by a man and a woman in June 2017.

The police officers detained were taken into custody to provide their statement, a judge will decide the necessary precautionary measures.