The security minister, Gustavo Mata, described the operation as “a heavy blow against drug-trafficking structures” in Costa Rica. Mata said it was striking that the cocaine was being smuggled from Colombia for sale in Costa Rica and not for onward transit to the US. The attorney general, Jorge Chavarría, said the Costa Rican authorities had acted in response to a tip-off from the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The different operations across Costa Rica, which took place in San José, Corredores, Heredia and Desamparados, resulted in the arrest of the gang leader, whose surname, Góngora Quiñones, was released, as well as another Colombian and two Costa Rican nationals. A total of 49 kilos of cocaine, ₡13m (US$24,000) and US$14,000 in cash were found on Quiñones’s person and US$13,000 was confiscated from the house of his Costa Rican girlfriend (also arrested), whose surname was Crespi Guzmán. Another Colombian member of the gang was arrested on 22 November and a Salvadorean last October.
Costa Rica’s security ministry has seized 14.3 tonnes (t) of cocaine, 4.5t of marijuana and 29 kilos of heroin so far this year, in addition to ₡140m (US$260,000), US$3.6m and 152,000 euros (US$162,000) in cash.
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