Costa Rica seizes a ton of cocaine hidden in boat
By Dialogo February 01, 2012
SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica – Authorities in Costa Rica seized a ton of cocaine and arrested five in connection with the cargo, Security Minister Mario Zamora said during a news conference on Jan. 31.
Costa Rican coast guard units seized three boats carrying fuel along the southern Pacific coast, finding a ton of cocaine in one of the vessels. Two Costa Ricans and three Colombians were arrested at the scene.
Five suspects other fled the scene on foot, Zamora said.
The shipment, with a street value of more than US$6 million, originated on Colombia’s Pacific coast and was bound for Mexico, according to Zamora.
“This is a heavy blow to drug trafficking,” he said, adding that around 900 tons of cocaine a year are smuggled north via Central America.
Costa Rican authorities confiscated a total of 7.2 tons of cocaine in 2011 and discovered a ton of the drug buried on a Pacific beach earlier this month.
[Nacion.com (Costa Rica), 31/01/2012; EFE (Costa Rica), 31/01/2012]
