Costa Rica, US make huge drug bust

By Dialogo
February 27, 2013

SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica – U.S. and Costa Rican officials confiscated a ton of cocaine transported in two boats in the Pacific Ocean, Mauricio Boraschi, Costa Rica’s national anti-drug commissioner, said on Feb. 26.
Boraschi said that on Feb. 24, U.S. patrol boats stopped a ship flying the Costa Rican flag that had 500 kilograms of cocaine on board. Two Costa Ricans and two Mexicans were arrested.
On Feb. 26, about 290 kilometers from the central Pacific port city of Puntarenas, officials stopped a second boat with 500 kilograms of cocaine on board. Three Costa Ricans and a Colombian man were arrested on the second boat.
Boraschi attributed the successful operations to a joint patrol operation by the United States and Costa Rica that used a radar system to track drug boats in the area. Costa Rica has seized 3.2 tons of cocaine already this year, officials said.
Like other Central American countries, Costa Rica is an important transit route for cocaine that is shipped from South America to consumers in the U.S. An estimated 90% of all cocaine destined for the U.S. market passes through Central America.

[AFP (Costa Rica), 26/02/2013; El Faro (El Salvador) 26/02/2013; Notimex (Mexico), 26/02/2013]