LatinNews Daily Report - 20 March 2013

DRUGS | Another coastal cocaine seizure.  On 19 March Félix Villalobos, head of the national coast guard unit for the Golfito area, on Costa Rica's South Pacific coast, announced that an Ecuadorean go-fast boat, detained the previous day in the Pacific waters, was carrying 470 kilos of cocaine. The announcement follows the seizure last week of 1.7 tonnes (t) of cocaine and raises concerns as to the growing use by drug traffickers of Costa Rica as a regional transit point. Villalobos said that four people were arrested, two Costa Ricans and two Ecuadoreans. The latest cocaine haul brings the total seized this year to 5.5t. According to the March 2013 report by the US State Department’s International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), Costa Rican authorities seized 14.73t of cocaine in 2012, up from 11.2t in 2011.

End of preview - This article contains approximately 140 words.

Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article

Not a Subscriber?

Choose from one of the following options

• Subscribe
• Sign up for a one-time, 14-day trial