Agents of the Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ) with the assistance of the public police force carried out 13 searches the morning of this Wednesday, November 11 in the area of Guápiles, Cariari, Guácimo, Pocora and at the Carlos Luis Fallas Prison in Limon, also in San Rafael, Heredia with the purpose of arresting memebers of a drug trafficking organization. The operations culminated with t...

The Minister of Public Security, Michael Soto, was able to arrange during a recent work trip to China a donation by this Government of almost $5.5 million in favor of Costa Rica to be invested in security. In a bilateral meeting with he Chinese Minister of Defense, Xu Qiliana, Soto was able to discuss this and other future donations “specially related to everything that has to do with the moni...

A boat carrying cocaine was intercepted this Sunday November 11th this time, in waters of the Costa Rican Caribbean. The work was the result of a joint collaboration between national Coast Guard Service and the USA Coast Guard Service. The situation took place 9 miles from Moín, Limón when during the evening hours of Saturday the authorities detected a suspicious vessel which they approached, t...

An alarming number of guns have disappeared recently in Costa Rica, 14,000 to be exact, and they are a danger to everyone, especially if they fall into the hands of organized crime or independent criminals. The Direccion General de Armamiento recently reported that they suspect local security companies are responsible for many of these missing firearms, reporting that security companies who have g...

Authorities of the Ministry of Public Security in Costa Rica intercepted two boats carrying a total one ton of cocaine, one of the boats was used in for sports fishing while the other one for small-scale commercial fishing. In total 5 people were arrested, all of them Costa Rican. The operation started after midnight this Saturday, November 10, when members of the National Coast Guard Service n...

The Judiciary Investigative Police confirmed this Thursday morning they had located the head of the victim whose remains were found in Escazú, San José, on Wednesday after a dog was seen with a human arm in its snout. The human remains correspond to a 28-year-old woman identified as Stephanie Paola Castro Mora who had recently moved to downtown San José from Pérez Zeledón. The woman was identif...

The Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ), confirmed the discovery of a body at the Hotel Del Rey, a known sexual tourism hot spot located in downtown San Jose. OIJ received the call alerting them of the situation at around 7 a.m. this Thursday morning, after a member of the cleaning staff entered the room to find the dead man. This is the second foreigner found dead this year in this same ho...

Costa Rican Drug Control Police in conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) confiscated a total 600 kilograms of cocaine in an operation carried out at open sea in waters of the Costa Rican Pacific. A US Coast Guard Service intercepted a boat with five people aboard and carrying 30 packets of drugs. After coordinating with Costa Rican authorities, the US agents arrived at Golfito, wh...

The Costa Rican authorities searched for human remains in the area of Bebedero, Escazu, after a dog was seen by several neighbors carrying a human arm in his snout, 400 meters west from the local Catholic Church. When the authorities arrived, they did not find the dog but after searching they found the human arm abandoned in an shrub-land. With the help of the K9 unit they were then able to loc...

This Tuesday, November 6, Costa Rican Drug Control Police conducted three raids in San Jose, taking down a drug trafficking organization that used coffee bags to hide cocaine that they will then send to Spain using drug mules. The criminal organization was directed by Costa Ricans, the investigation began in 2017, the raids took place in properties in Desamparados, Coronado and Moravia in San J...

Drug dealer known as “El Gringo”, whose real name was Erwin Guido Toruño was found dead back on December 2017; almost one year later, the Costa Rican Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ) confirms that the criminal group associated with this drug leader has been dismantled. In total, 49 people were arrested in relation to this criminal group, out of which, 13 were detained during different raids...

A Canadian man who attempted to leave Costa Rica through the Juan Santamaria Airport, was captured by officers of the Drug Control Police of the Ministry of Public Security, informed this institution today. The 26-year-old man of last name Clingo was scheduled to board a flight to Calgary, Canada last Thursday; when he was intercepted by Costa Rican authorities who detected a suspicious behavio...

U.S. citizen, Andrew Roy Willis, was charged with homicide back on September 28, 2017 in Costa Rica and initially received four months of preventive detention while the case was being investigated. Costa Rican authorities have extended the preventive imprisonment for Willis several times, and he just received another three months in detention as the only suspect in the murder of his sentimental...

A suitcase with containers of baby food and cereal was found by the police inside vehicle used to kidnap a child this past Thursday in Santa Ana. The child was rescued by his father who intentionally crashed the car of the perpetrators to prevent them from running away with his son. “This confirmed the intention of the detained suspects was to kidnap the child with the intention of requesti...

A businessman in the area of Santa Ana, San Jose, rescued his son who had been kidnapped this Thursday, November 1st, by crashing his car into the kidnappers’ car. The Ministry of Public Security confirmed that the suspects are a 22 year old Nicaraguan woman of last name Oporta and a French man of surname Mirc 38 years of age. The parents of the minor, Costa Rican, left their house in the ce...

November 1st The Costa Rican Judiciary Police (OIJ) announced the arrest of two men suspected of being responsible of a death threat made to the US ambassador Sharon Day. According to the information provided, this investigation began back in September 7, 2017, when the FBI received an email with threats directed to the US ambassador to Costa Rica. The email was received in an open line meant t...

The case dates back to April 2015, when US expat Barry Lawson -74 years old- was brutally beaten during a robbery and died at the hospital some days later. Now, more than three years after this crime, the Costa Rican authorities arrested seven people in connection to this heinous crime, a man of last names Renderos Bolaños and his three sons of last names Renderos Sánchez, as well as a woman of...

Costa Rican Border Police intercepted an important cargo of smuggled medications in Peñas Blancas, La Cruz Guanacaste. Border Police agents were patrolling a sector of the border when a group of men noticing the police presence dropped the bags they were carrying and managed to escape to Nicaraguan territory. The bags contained a total of 10,969 units of different medications with an estima...

Work carried out by the drug control police (PCD) of the Ministry of Public Security allowed them to intercept two trailer trucks carrying cocaine and cash in the area of Peñas Blancas close to the Nicaragua border. PCD arrested a 29-year-old man of last name Diaz and with a criminal record for murder. The driver intended to leave the country in route to Nicaragua, when the agents checked the t...

The Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ) detained four fishermen in Puntarenas as suspects of International drug trafficking, this in connection with 1200 kilograms of cocaine that was being transported aboard a boat 60 nautical miles from Puntarenas. “This Sunday afternoon  agents of the Judiciary Investigative Police in Puntarenas, arrested four men, 40, 43, 50 and 63 years of age, as suspect...

The Costa Rican Public Polce Force rescued two live sea turtles that were being transported inside a vehicle in the area of Moin in Limon. The discovery was made during the night patrols when at 2:20 a.m. of Wednesday the officers noticed a suspicious vehicle, which they ordered to stop, this is how they found two live sea turtles one on the back seat of the car and another on inside the trunk of...

The Ministry of Public Security informed us that on Wednesday October 24th they intercepted a boat in the area of Barco Quebrado in Nicoya, Guanacaste, carrying a significant number of packets of drugs. After careful inspection by the Drug Control Police they were able to confirm a total of 690 kilograms of cocaine with a street value of over 25 Million USD. Costa Rican authorities also confirm...

Photo Credit: Reuters/Jon Nazca Six tons of cocaine were hidden in a banana shipment that originated from Limon in Costa Rica, arrived to the port of Setubal in Portugal and was transported by truck to Malaga, Andalucia in the South of Spain. The drug was seized by Spanish police as well as 300,000 Euros, firearms and vehicles, in an operation that also concluded with the arrest of 16 peo...

The Costa Rican Drug Institute in Costa Rica (ICD) have detected the use of gold bars to launder money in the country. The gold bars are about the size of a cell phone but can hold an incredibly high value and according to ICD. They are sent first to the North of Central America, Mexico and of course, the United States where they are used to pay debts or sold to different companies. These go...

An investigation that began in January 2017 carried out by the Drug Control Police (PCD) of the Ministry of Public Security allowed the capture of members of a criminal structure that was dedicated to the transportation of drugs in large quantities from Costa Rica to Central America and Mexico. The criminal group would also move large amounts of money product of the operation. PCD searched a to...

UPDATED: January 12th 2019 William Sean Creighton, a 43-year old American known as one of the three most important sportsbook operators in Costa Rica, disappeared on September 24th at about 10:00PM, as he was leaving work. His wife, a Tica, reported him missing the following day, and the Costa Rican police began investigating the case as a possible kidnapping for ransom. The OIJ, however, repor...

43-year-old Sean W. Creighton was last seen on September 24 and was reported missing a day later, affirmed William Espinoza, Chief of the Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ) in Costa Rica earlier this week. Espinoza was careful in not providing many details regarding the disappearance of the US Expat, who holds the Costa Rican nationality and is well known in the sportsbook industry as the own...

Walter Espinoza, chief of the Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ), confirmed today that OIJ has been investigating the disappearance of a US Expat since September 25. William Sean Creighton owner of an online sportsbook that operates in San Pedro, better known as “Tony”, was last seen the evening of September 24 when he left his work and reportedly went to drop off a co-worker in the area of C...

Costa Rican Judiciary Police (OIJ) were able to confirm the identity of a body they found half-buried in Siquirres, Limón back on October 1. The remains correspond to Thomas J. Cook, a U.S. expat that had been reported missing in Jaco. Cook, who had settled in Herradura, Costa Rica back on July 20 this year was last seen and heard from on August 23 when he withdrew funds from an ATM in Jaco be...

Thomas J. Cook settled into his new home in Herradura, Costa Rica back in July 20 this year, a little over a month later, in August 23, the 62-year old man went missing. Cook’s sister, Sandra LeFrance and other family members have been looking for him since, the official report was filed in Costa Rica las Sunday and the Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ) requested the assistance of the public...

The Ministry of Public Security of Costa Rica intercepted two motorboats the evening of this Tuesday and early hours of Wednesday in waters of the Caribbean loaded with marijuana. The Coast Guard Service of Barra del Colorado was in charge of the operation along with agents of the Drug Control Police. The boats were located at open sea, when the Coast Guard Patrol signaled them to stop they sp...

Police authorities of the Ministry of Public Security seized a total 428 kilograms of cocaine and arrested three suspects that traveled aboard the vessel. The vessel was intercepted in waters of the Pacific, southeast of Cabo Blanco in the Nicoya Peninsula. The ship had Ecuadorian license, according to the National Coastguard Service. Upon inspection, the Drug Control Police found the packet...

An all-women drug gang was busted for drug trafficking in Golfito, on the Southern Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, near Panama. These alleged drug damas were operating near the Sports Park of Pueblo Civil de Golfito, in Puntarenas Province. They were apprehended by agents of the Drug Patrol Police (Policia Control de Drogas, PCD), on October 5, 2018. The leader of the group was identified by the l...

Thanks to the joint efforts of police bodies of the Ministry of Public Security of Costa Rica and countries like the United States, Colombia and Panama, over a ton of cocaine was confiscated this Wednesday. The load was found by the Coast Guard service in waters of the South Pacific, 160 kilometers from the coast of the Osa Peninsula, were 46 packs of cocaine were floating attached to a radio ...

US expat Barry Lawson was  brutally beaten during a robbery back on April 1st, 2015, at the hotel Villa Alegre in Tamarindo Guanacaste. Barry died days later at the hospital, now, three years later the Intelligence Unit of the Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ) has been following fresh leads on four suspects, three men and one woman. The information was released by Channel 7 Telenoticias alon...

A man originating from Mexico was apprehended by officials of the Drug Control Police (PCD) of the Ministry of Public Security, carrying $27,100.00 in cash that had not been reported. This detention took place at the Juan Santamaria Airport in Alajuela, when the man tried to come into Costa Rica carrying the money in a manila folder inside a briefcase. The man is 51 years-old and of last nam...

Investigations and surveillance processes by the Costa Rican Judiciary Investigative Police (Regional Office of OIJ Limon), concluded with the interception of a truck loaded with 330 kilograms of cocaine originating from Colombia. The drugs were hidden in a container that was supposedly carrying ceramic tiles and packed in black backpacks. OIJ had been alerted by international police of the ...

According to information by the Quick Response Team of the Technical Secretariat of the National Coalition against Illicit Immigrant Traffic and Human Trafficking (CONATT), between 2010 and September 2018 there have been a total of 211 victims in Costa Rica. “In Costa Rica we defend citizens reports as the indispensable base to detect possible cases, however, thanks to the efforts carried out b...

The Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT), in coordination with Paniamor Foundation, officially launched the Action Manual for the Tourism Sector Companies this week and also recognized a group of 56 tourism companies for their commitment over 5 consecutive years to the Code of Conduct Program which has the goal to discourage and prevent, to the fullest extent possible, the commercial sexual exploitatio...

In commemoration of the International Day of Peace, celebrated this Friday, September 21, the Costa Rican Ministry of Security destroyed a total of 1,423 firearms that had been seized in different operation The guns, linked to different judiciary processes, arrived at the National Arsenal with the respective orders of destruction, process which was carried out between Thursday, September 20 an...