Early Saturday morning, three American tourists and their Costa Rican van driver were killed in a head- on vehicular crash near La Cruz, Guanacaste. They were traveling in a minivan, when they were hit by a truck driven by a Salvadoran citizen, who remains unidentified. The three who were killed were a 46-year old couple by the last name of Niemiec, and their 50-year old fellow passenger whose las...

Ten years have gone by with the family of British journalist Michael Dixon, who vanished in Costa Rica on 18 October 2009, still not knowing what happened to him and if he is alive or dead. "I will never stop thinking about Michael and I will never rest until I know what happened to my son. If anyone has any information, it's not too late to speak out," Michael's mother, Lynn Dixon, said. ...

The U.S. Attorney’s office of Chicago has charged an American with conducting an illegal sports gambling operation based in Costa Rica, according to a 14-count indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Chicago, on October 11th. The accused was operating under the names Michael Frontier, Ira Goldberg, Brian Seagel, and Mathew Sullivan. He is also accused of hiding his personal gambling profits ...

Costa Rican prisons are often just temporary residences for criminals who are sentenced to extended jail time, but manage to get their sentences reduced and return to their lives of crime in short order. Many maintain their criminal activities while serving prison time, remaining the leaders of their gangs, and continuing whatever illegal activities they were involved in on the outside. Remaining ...

Gary Krause was filming a video in front of the Plaza de la Democracia in San Jose, Costa Rica when he accidentally caught  police chasing and catching a man. The video was being shot by Krause, a native of England who lives in the United States, for a religious show that airs in the United States, as he is giving a little information on the National Museum, in the background police appear chas...

Costa Rican Border Police officers from Guaycará, Golfito, Puntarenas arrested a man that was traveling as a passenger aboard a car towards San José and was carrying fake identification documents. Officers stopped the car which entered the country from Panama, requested the identifications and the man originally provided documents under the name “Michael Dominik John” from California, USA, “e...

In an operation carried out by Drug Control Police (PCD), the Ministry of Public Security and the USA Coast Guard authorities a vessel was detained carrying an important amount of cocaine. The US Coast Guard intercepted the boat named “Mahi Mahi” and with a crew of three people 130 nautical miles from Matapalo in the Osa peninsula in Puntarenas. The men arrested of last names Centeno Hernand...

Costa Rica's boarder control police spotted a vessel that ran aground in the area of Punta Burica in the Southern Zone of the country, five people were arrested in relation to this case, the boat was loaded with one ton and nine kilograms of cocaine. Boarder control police received the assistance of the Drug Control Police, Air Surveillance, Public Police Force and National Coast Guard Service....

Yesterday the body of American online sportsbook maker William Sean Creighton, founder of 5 Dimes, was discovered in a cemetery in Quepos, Costa Rica. The Star had reported his abduction and murder one year ago, a story picked up by the international press, but hotly contested by the family’s lawyer and by 5 Dimes management. The Star never retracted the story. Now, in a modest cemetery with a ...

The OIJ (Organismo de Investigacion) reports that murders are again on the rise in Costa Rica – and that has law enforcement officials worried. There have been 42 homicides in fifteen days, an alarming spike in the murder rate. At a recent press conference, OIJ’s director Walter Espinoza declared about the rise, “The situation shows no possibility of finishing soon.” This follows a slight drop in ...

A renowned Costa Rican narco-trafficker, Juan Carlos Arias Leiva, was captured-- at last -- on Wednesday, in Paso Canoas, Panama, by Panamanian authorities and Interpol International Police. Arias is better known by his narco nickname, “El Pellejo”. The name in English means skin, or sometimes the leather container in which liquids are carried. He is wanted in Texas for conspiracy to traffic drugs...

What would possess an American war veteran to spend all night alone on a Costa Rican beach, looking for turtle nests? Turtle Rescue! And it’s urgent. Mike Hughes seems to be an unlikely volunteer conservationist. But that’s exactly who he is, and he has probably saved thousands and thousands of turtle eggs from illegal turtle egg poachers who have now become well organized, and in many cases af...

A Romanian Expat by the name of Ionut-George Otelac and a Costa Rican model by name Raquel Gamboa Mora, were shot to death inside their vehicle near the Alajuelita park this Tuesday, September 10. The two victims were aboard a Suzuki driving on the main street of the San José county of Alajuelita at noon time when two people on a motorcycle shot them. The Romanian was 38 years-old and had a ...

The Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ) in Costa Rica confirmed the arrest of two Jamaican brothers suspects of fraud and wanted by the Interpol. According to information released by OIJ the two men of last name Levy apparently setup a call center in Costa Rica to function as a sweepstake scam where the victims were elderly American citizens. In total the victims were scammed closed to $350...

Costa Rican authorities intercepted a vessel 16 nautical miles from Golfito, Puntarenas close to Golfo Dulce carrying almost half a ton of cocaine. The National Coast Guard Service, Air Surveillance, Public Police Force, Border Control Police and the Drug Control Police took part of this operation; aboard the boat, with the name “Hish Tide” were two men, a Costa Rican of surname García and a Co...

Authorities of the Ministry of Public Security filed a report to the prosecutors of the Association of Professional Psychologists requesting them to investigate a group of psychologists that are in charge of applying suitability evaluations to those requesting a license to own a gun. According to the Ministry of Security, several psychologists are issuing a significant number of tests in the sy...

On August 20th, Cristel Yariella Gomez Espinoza, a.k.a, "La Reina del Sur"(Queen of the South), was arrested after having been on the run for nine months, wanted for being a drug capo of a cartel supplying massive quantities of drugs to the Southern Zone of Costa Rica. She is only 24 years old. She was arrested while shopping for new pants, dressed in a pink satin romper with an open back displ...

American tourist Charlie Hughes, 62 years of age, has been missing since August 3rd in Costa Rica and was last seen in the area of Puerto Jiménez, Puntarenas. The Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ) in Costa Rica informed of the disappearance of the native of Tampa, Florida and apparently the FBI is also investigating the case. According to information that has been released, Hughes was see...

Photo: Archive Once again, Costa Rican Penitentiary Police captured a cat smuggling cell phones into prison, this time at the Center of Institutional Attention Jorge Arturo Montero (La Reforma). The cat had a harness and attached to it a bag with two mobile phones its respective chargers and three sim cards. An officer first noticed the cat as it entered module B of the prison, however, o...

Cristel Yariela Gomez Espinoza, known by her gang name “La Reina del Sur”, was picked up at 10AM on Tuesday in Palmar Norte, Puntarenas, in the Southern Zone. She was wanted by Interpol, as well as the OIJ of Costa Rica, who had an order for capture for her since 2018. The arrest took place in a commercial center, where the OIJ and Fuerza Publica had been staking out another wanted felon, when the...

Costa Rica’s Attorney General confirmed the detention in Nuevo León, Mexico of former priest Mauricio Víquez Lizano accused of sexual abuse of two minors and who had fled the country back in January. According to the Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ) it was through an investigation by the Information Technology Crimes section that they were able to confirm that Víquez was in Mexico and from ...

The famous M1, Jose Efrain Lopez Mendoza, Boss Man of the most powerful drug cartel in Costa Rica, Movimiento Revolucionario de Crimen Organizado (MORECO), was captured on Tuesday, August 13, in Escazu. Lopez is on the Most Wanted Lists of both the FBI and DEA, wanted for sending massive shipments of drugs from Costa Rica to the United States. He was wanted by Interpol for his association with the...

In an operation in conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Costa Rican Coast Guard Service and Drug Control Police seized 1,002 kilograms of cocaine with a value of over $35,000,000 USD. The vessel, under the name "Princeso Claudio", was intercepted 53 nautical miles off the coast of Puntarenas, 4 men were arrested with last names López Avalos ,45 years of age who was the ca...

In recent months there have been several revelations of religious figures sexually abusing minors and members of their congregations, for instance the recent head of the Luz del Mundo Church, Naason Joaquin Garcia, currently being held without bond in Los Angeles. But now, rather than someone preying upon uneducated country folk and children, the “Pastor of the Rich” has been arrested on five coun...

Director of the Professional Migration Police, Stephen Madden, announced on July 31st the capture and detention of “Mama Africa”, an accused notorious human trafficker, allegedly responsible for smuggling 249 people this year alone through Costa Rica, en route to the USA. She was in possession of 14 passports belonging to citizens of Cameroon, Ghana and other African nations. She was also holding ...

Image: Archive/Illustration purposes only. Thanks to international cooperation of US, Colombian, Panamanian, Peruvian and Costa Rican authorities, Costa Rican police bodies were able to seize 640 kilograms of cocaine at the end of July. “We are very pleased, this is an important success, the result of the coordination of national authorities with international police”, commented Eduardo Trej...

Venezuelan-American tourist Carla Stefaniak disappeared from the Escazu Airbnb where she was staying on her last night in Costa Rica – November 28, 2018. It was also her last night alive. On December 3rd, a gardener on the property found her partially-buried body 100 meters from her guest room. She had been bludgeoned and stabbed repeatedly in her neck and chest area; her neck had been broken. ...

In an operation by land, sea and air that began last Wednesday and concluded this Friday morning Costa Rican authorities seized a total 1.4 tons of marijuana and 44 kilograms of cocaine. Members of the Coast Guard Service received information of international authorities of a suspicious boat and they immediately set out to intercept them. As soon as the suspicious vessel spotted the patrol boat...

Here’s a relatively new business in Costa Rica, and a very lucrative one: Loan Sharking.(Loan Sharks) You don’t need an office, storefront, staff, personal assistant or merchandise. It has the added cachet of being an industry imported mostly via foreign criminal groups, so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, just follow their tried and true methods. And loan sharking in Costa Rica is HOT now. C...

A Costa Rican man who also has a Canadian passport was detained this week as suspect of sending six tons of cocaine to Spain back in October 2018 in a banana shipment which was intercepted in Malaga, Andalucía in the South of Spain. The man, of last name Thompson was arrested when the Drug Control Police (PCD) raided his house in San Antonio de Coronado, San José. “The investigation allowed us...

Mexican-American pastor of La Luz del Mundo (The Light of The World) who calls himself “Apostle” was surprised at LAX airport a little over ten days ago when he was arrested on 26 felonies for sexual abuse of children and child pornography. Naason Joaquin Garcia had his own surprise up his sleeve, it seems. The church has bought 25 – 100 hectares of land in Quepos to create a religious complex, si...

A Mexican with strong ties to Costa Rica and a 20-million dollar bounty on his head, Rafael Caro Quintero, is now #10 on the FBI’s Most Wanted List – and may well be hiding in Costa Rica where he has strong connections and many cartel friends. Quintero is wanted for the murder of Drug Enforcement Agent (DEA) Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, in July of 1985, as well as charges of drug trafficking, kidnappi...

Naason Joaquin Garcia, the 50-year old “Apostle” of the Luz del Mundo (Light of the World) Church, got quite a surprise when he arrived at Los Angeles International Airport and deplaned from his private charter airplane – officials were waiting for him, and arrested him for human trafficking, production of child pornography, forcible rape of a minor, and several other felonies committed between 20...

Seven Americans have been charged on a 39-count indictment for various crimes including money laundering, gambling promotion, conspiracy, and enterprise corruption. One of them – Robert Brieger – was operating out of Costa Rica and is waiting to be extradited back to the US. The seven people stand accused of taking bets on sporting events through wire rooms in both Astoria, Queens and Costa Rica. ...

After recent warnings to foreigners visiting Costa Rica about an increase in both petty and serious crime, comes an announcement to be applauded. On Tuesday Michael Soto, Minister of Public Security (Public Police Force), announced that between May 2018 and May 2019, his security forces have succeeded in the following arrests and seizures of goods: ~ 2,160 people arrested, up 16% ~ 233 firear...

May 28, 2019 – The Canadian Government has issued a security warning for Canadian citizens wishing to visit Costa Rica, urging citizens to exercise a high degree of caution when visiting Costa Rica, especially for female visitors. The reasons cited for this warning are: Crime: The rate of drug-related violent crimes, including homicides is on the rise. Drug trafficking is common. Local drug use,...

In September of 2017, an agricultural worker working on a farm in Desemparados de Pejibaye de Perez Zeledon, detected a foul odor about 500 meters from the main farm house. He then discovered human remains, apparently of a female, partially buried in a shallow grave. The worker reported his gruesome discovery to the OIJ, who removed a corpse in advanced state of decomposition, and took it directly...

President Carlos Alvarado and the Minister of Public Security, Michael Soto, subscribed this week the changes to the Firearms and Explosives Law, which gives authorities more tools for gun control. “We are demonstrating with tools like these, that Costa Rica is capable of advancing to become a safer country with less impunity”, stated President Alvarado. The project was approved by the Legis...

Since March APM Terminals in Limón announced they now had the most modern container scanner in Latin America which helps verify all the cargos traveling to the United States and Europe as a tool to battle illegal traffic of weapons, drugs, cash radioactive materials, plagues, etc. The But.....In order to put the scanner to work the Government of Costa Rica has to invest in a monitoring center w...

On May 14, three people fled – or were chased – away from a narco submarine in Playa Llorona in Osa Peninsula in southwestern Costa Rica’s Corcovado Park. They left behind their ominous-looking gray homemade boat. The Fuerza Publica, Border Police and Coast Guard seized more than two tons of cocaine neatly stored aboard the otherwise messy boat’s interior. There have been several such boats found ...