SIGN UP FOR OUR By Wendy Anders
ARCHIVE/FILE: Some 1,700 tons of cocaine is expected to pass through Costa Rican territory in 2016. (Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Public Security)
Costa Rica’s Public Security Ministry in their amped up effort to control crime in the Atlantic port city of Limón has arrested 152 people over the past three weeks, they stated in a press release.
In an analysis of this data, the ministry’s statistics and analysis department found that 76 of the arrests, or 50 percent, were for illicit drug-related crimes. And 27 of the arrests, or almost 20 percent of the total, were for violations of the firearms and explosives law, said the ministry.
During the arrests, police removed 39 firearms (30 guns, 6 handguns, and 3 rifles), 400 rounds of ammunition, 24 magazines for automated weapons, and a bulletproof vest.
Since the reinforced police patrols began in Limón on October 2, police have been working day and night to increase security in the city; they have seized marijuana, cocaine and crack, with a combined street value of over US$67,000, said the ministry.
