Costa Rican authorities received the alert from the US Coast Guard Service on a semi-submersible boat in waters of the Pacific; immediately the Costa Rican Coast Guard Service with the assistance of US Coast Guard Service organized the patrolling operation and after a chase they finally intercepted the vessel at 3 a.m. on Saturday close to Playa Llorona in Corcovado. “The weather conditions a...

Alejandro “Alex” Castillo is on the lamb from the US after being accused of sexual misconduct with minors – something for which he already served one year in prison in 2012 – yet the church welcomed him back, even promoting him to Diocese’s Director of Department of Faith Formation and Evangelization for Oakland, California. He has now been placed on administrative leave while he skips around, one...

The Costa Rican Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ) confiscated $3 million USD in cash and detained five people in an operation carried out this Tuesday, April 30 in a building located in China Town in downtown San José. The building had experienced a fire last April 11, with the Fire Department called to put out the blaze. The third floor was engulfed in smoke, people out on their balconies t...

Two individuals from Costa Rica were sentenced to 25 and 20 years in prison this Tuesday, April 30, for their roles in a $10 million telemarketing scheme that defrauded primarily elderly victims in the United States from call centers in Costa Rica. Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney R. Andrew Murray of the Western Distric...

The Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ) detained a 14-year-old this Wednesday as the person responsible for threats made against students and personnel of the San Luis Gonzaga high school. OIJ searched the house of the suspect in Agua Caliente, Cartago and confiscated a computer, cell phones and USB devices as proof. The threat was made public on social media using a profile that was later ...

Jose Efrain Lopez Mendoza, aka “Dante” or M1, is wanted for drug smuggling by the FBI, DEA, and Costa Rica’s OIJ. He is the head of a highly sophisticated gang of drug smugglers known as Movimiento Revolucionario de Crimen Organizado (Moreco), who pattern their gang style after the violent and lethal Mexican gang known as the Zetas. They operate throughout Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, and even i...

Costa Rican authorities, with the help of Interpol, turned Henry de la Hoz over to U.S. Marshals last week to be returned to Miami to serve out a 12-year prison sentence. De la Hoz had been sentenced in absentia for killing retirees Victor and Olga Lisabet on Easter of 2003, as they headed to celebrate Easter mass with fellow worshipers. De la Hoz had spent the night before the tragedy in a sports...

In separate police raids, Costa Rican authorities confiscated almost three tons of cocaine this week with a street value of over 33 million USD. Police operations carried out in the South Pacific of Costa Rica concluded with a total 456 kilograms of cocaine seized and four men arrested. Public Police Force located a vessel carrying the load of drugs in the area of Dominical in the South Paci...

Two drug-chasing boats donated by the United States last November to Costa Rica’s National Coast Guard Service (SNG), have scored a huge victory of drug interdiction recently: six tons of cocaine seized since January of 2019. The boats were donated by the Government of the US via the Office for Counternarcotics, Citizen Security and Justice of the US Embassy. Christopher Harris, Director of th...

The governments of the United States and Costa Rica presented the Aerial Training Specialized Program directed to personnel of the Aerial Surveillance Service in Costa Rica; the program has the objective of strengthening the security and tools for the Ministry of Public Security. The program is part of multiple cooperation agreements between both countries. The presentation took place in Aerial...

The Costa Rican authorities continue with operations to battle drug trafficking particularly in the Central Pacific, where they have already intercepted several vessels loaded with drugs. During a road control operation in the area of Quepos on Route 34, two drivers disobeyed the orders of the police officers to stop the cars, the officers immediately coordinated with the police stations of Par...

This year Costa Ricans have been taken back by sexual abuse scandals that have tainted the reputation of a former President and Nobel Peace prize winner, the Catholic Church (An institution of great weight in the country), and even the literary world. First it was former two-time president of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias Sánchez, who made headlines, after a physician and antinuclear activist filed a...

APM Terminals now has access to the most modern container scanner in Latin America which will be used to verify all the loads traveling to the United States and in this way help battle illegal contraband of weapons, drugs, cash, radioactive materials, plagues, etc. ¨We have the capacity of scanning all the containers going to the United States. All operators have been trained, we trust that thi...

A 7-year-old boy of name Arden Oliver Fuss, of Rhinebeck, New York, was last seen in his native town on June 19, 2018. According to information given by authorities the child was abducted by his mother, Aleidria Riverson Lichau. The two apparently traveled to Costa Rica and a felony warrant for kidnapping was issued for Lichau on September 13, 2018. The Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ) and ...

Once again, coordinated actions of the Costa Rican Coast Guard Service, the United States Coast Guard Service and the Colombian Army in a joint patrolling operation, allowed the interception of boat loaded with drugs by the Limón Coast Guard Station. The boat under the name "La Bendición" (The Blessing), with no registration plates or flag, was intercepted 27 nautical miles from the coast of Li...

Four UHI-ST helicopters that are part of the Aerial Training Program that the United States maintains with Costa Rica arrived to the country this Friday, March 8; the choppers came aboard a Globemaster C-17 plane and as of this moment the process of assembly of the airlines begins as well as the training of pilots and those in charge of maintenance. The United States will be in charge of these ...

The work against organized crime by Costa Rican authorities has paid off as they have seized in the last 10 days a total of 6.4 tons of cocaine. The most recent case occurred this Monday, March 4, when officers of the Ministry of Public Security intercepted a boat with three Colombian citizens aboard and loaded with a total 1.5 tons of cocaine which they tried to get rid off by dumping the pack...

The work of Costa Rican Public Police Force and the National Coast Guard Service managed to seize 1,065 kilograms of cocaine and detained six people. The suspects are five Costa Ricans between the ages of 22 and 39, four of them with prior criminal records and a 53-year-old Colombian of last names Guarí Enríquez In addition to the drugs seized the police also confiscated three vehicles and...

Authorities of the Ministry of Public Security seized a total of 1.2 tons of cocaine in waters of the South Pacific, packed as shoe soles and as rectangular packages. The National Coast Guard Service was in routine actions directed to battle drug trafficking another crimes with the assistance of the United States Coast Guard Service when they detected a suspicious speed boat 68 kilometers from...

The United States Congress approved $40.7 million to be given to Costa Rica to battle organized crime during 2019, informed the Costa Rican Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This amount represents an increase of 33% over last year’s aid; this increase obeys to the good results obtained by the Ministry of Public Security and the different police bodies in the country in their battle against drug tr...

Oscar Arias, former two-time president of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace award winner, appeared at the Associate District Attorney Office for Gender matters as part of the investigation regarding two criminal complaints one for rape and another for sexual assault filed against him. Arias, rejected all charges against him and abstained from making any further statements at the time, however, he did ...

The work by the Border Police (Ministry of Public Security) to battle the illegal extraction of gold in the north zone of the country continues delivering good results. On this occasion, officers managed to seize 1,900 kilograms of cyanide, material used for the extraction of gold. The material was divided in 38 large bags. Officers that were patrolling the area received information about the p...

Foreigners Detained at Costa Rica International Airport Carrying Spiders, Ants and a Scorpion Two foreigners were detained at the Juan Santamaria International Airport in Costa Rica, when they attempted to leave the country with 181 containers containing live ants, spiders and a scorpion. The men of German nationality and last names Goldnik and Ollesch were arrested by Airport Police of the...

Another woman accuses former president of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace award winner, Oscar Arias, of sexual misconduct. Carina A. Black, gave her statement to the New York Times. Black is a political scientist at the University of Nevada, Reno and she met Arias back in 1998 when he visited the university as a speaker, and she had had to accompany him to several meetings and events. Black told ...

After the first criminal complaint for sexual assault was filed against former two-time president of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace award winner, Oscar Arias Sánchez, last February 5 by a physician and antinuclear activist, several women have raised their voice to report they too were once victims of the sexual misconduct of Arias. Two journalists, Nona Antillón, who worked with Arias during his fi...

Two women, both journalists, alleged to having been the victims of sexual assault by former two-time president of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace prize winner, Oscar Arias Sánchez; the women decided to speak up after a physician and antinuclear activist filed a criminal complaint against Arias for events that occurred back in 2014. Nono Antillón, a television figure back in the 80’s and who worked ...

Former two-time president of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace Award winner, Oscar Arias Sánchez, was formally accused by a physician and antinuclear activist of last names Arce von Herold, of sexual assault. The criminal complaint was filed on Monday, February 4, and it was national daily Semanario Universidad that released the information. The attack reported is said to have taken place on December...

The month of January registered 20 homicides less than the same period of 2018, according to information provided by the Ministry of Public Security. In the first 31 days of 2019 authorities handled a total of 39 homicides, while during this same time period in 2018 the number of homicides was of 59. This number has not had such a significant decrease since November 2015. The number of homic...

Officers of the National Coast Guard Service and the Drug Control Police (PCD) of the Ministry of Public Security intercepted a boat in the Caribbean carrying 946 kilograms, 477 grams of marijuana, 385 grams of marijuana cocoons as well as several containers filled with fuel. Four people were arrested, three of them with prior criminal records, a 40 year old man of last name Hartley Cristopher;...

Costa Rican Drug Control Police carried out 9 searches this Tuesday, January 20 in Limón (Los Cocos, Cahuita and Hone Creek) and in San José (Aserrí and Desamparados) during which they arrested 9 suspects of drug trafficking. The investigation began in 2016 with information gathered by the police and through confidential sources, the National Security and Intelligence Agency (DIS) also assiste...

The work of the Drug Control Police (PCD) of the Ministry of Public Security, allowed the seizure of 975 kilograms of marijuana, five cars, cash and the arrest of 12 people. The events took place on the early hours of Sunday, when an anonymous tip on the confidential line 1176, alerted over the transportation of drugs. Public Police Force stopped a truck with two people and a car, also with ...

The Minister of Public Security, Michael Soto, expressed his disapproval of the voting that took place on Monday evening in the Security and Drug Trafficking Commission of the Legislative Assembly regarding changes to the Firearms and Explosives Law. “With the motions approved, we cannot continue with the reduction in homicides”, stated Soto. The Minister assured that the objective is not to ri...

The Criminal Court of the Second Judiciary Circuit of San Jose, gave six months of preventive imprisonment to five of the suspects of the kidnapping of William Sean Creighton, known as “Tony” from 5Dimes sportsbook. The five people that will remain in custody are the grandmother of the main suspect of last name Aguirre Leal, the uncle of the main suspect of last names Vega Aguirre and three oth...

In total, twelve people have been arrested as suspects of taking part in the kidnapping of William Sean Creighton, businessman and owner of 5Dimes Sportsbook, 9 of them in Costa Rica and the others 3 in Zaragoza, Spain, all of them of Costa Rican nationality. Walter Espinoza, director of the Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ), provided in a statement all the details related to this case, and ...

(photo: archive) Official Statement by Walter Espinoza, director of Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ) in Costa Rica regarding the arrests that took place this Friday in relation to the kidnapping of American-Costa Rican citizen William Sean Creighton, known in the sportsbook industry as 5Dimes Tony: ¨The District Attorney´s office carried out 10 searches today in relation to a kidnapping th...

The Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ) carried out several searches in the early morning Friday, January 11, in Costa Rica and also in Spain with the assistance of the local authorities in that country. All searches were in relation to the kidnapping of William Sean Creighton (known as Tony), owner of 5Dimes sportsbook in Costa Rica who went missing on September 24, 2018. In total in Costa Ri...

The police work carried out during 2018 and all the actions geared towards firearm control, allowed 2018 to be the year in which more illegal weapons were seized in the past eight years. In total, officers of Public Police Force seized 2318 weapons, which represents 13% more than the number for 2017. Out of the total number seized, 450 were the result of the more than 60 mega-operations that we...

The Costa Rican Judiciry Investigative Police (OIJ) have raised the alert for international arrest of the woman nicknamed “la Reina del Sur” (Queen of the South), Cristel Gómez Espinoza, the last person related to the criminal organization related to Irving Alejandro Guido Toruño, “El Gringo” . The director of OIJ, Walter Espinoza, confirmed the information, and explained that that 23 year-old ...

The Fiscal Control Police is conducting a search this Tuesday morning in the main offices of the company Movistar, (Telefónica de Costa Rica) in Escazú as part of an investigation for fiscal fraud. Apparently the total amount under investigation is of over $2 million USD, the report was filed by Treasury authorities and caused the search of the offices of the company in Escazú, its subsidiary c...

Costa Rica took a big hit over the holidays with female tourists and visitors. Women were murdered in Costa Rica – brutally and viciously – with the most famous being the Venezuelan/American from Miami, Carla Stefaniak, who visited in December to celebrate her birthday. She was found partially buried behind the Airbnb she was visiting, and the hotel security guard stands accused of her murder. ...