Costa Rica and DEA seize 3,548 kg of marijuana from a boat off Matapalo
On the night of 20 January 2026 Costa Rican drug police and the Coast Guard, with DEA support, intercepted a go-fast boat about 40 nautical miles southwest of Cabo Matapalo and seized 6,452 marijuana packages weighing 3,548 kg. Three Colombian crew members were detained and the vessel Monarca CP01 was towed to Golfito.
🇨🇷 Cabo Matapalo, Pacific coast, Puntarenas · Costa Rica
·
Arrested
3
Cannabis
3.548 t
On the night of Tuesday 20 January 2026, Costa Rica’s Drug Control Police, Coast Guard, special
support unit and criminal intelligence directorate intercepted a fast boat roughly 40 nautical miles
southwest of Cabo Matapalo on the southern Pacific coast, with help from a US patrol aircraft and
the Drug Enforcement Administration.[1][2]
Inside the vessel, named Monarca CP01, officers found 6,452 packages of marijuana.[1]La Nación
reports that each package weighed about 550 grams, for a total of 3,548 kg valued at roughly
2,000 million colones at domestic prices cited by the Public Security Ministry.[1]
Three Colombian men with surnames Cortés, Vallecillo and Carvajal were detained aboard the boat.[1][2]Infobae adds that seven fuel drums of about 200 litres each were seized to extend the craft’s
range at sea.[2]
The boat was towed to the Golfito Coast Guard station for inspection.[1][2]The suspects were held
for the pre-trial process while prosecutors pursued an international drug-trafficking case under the
joint Costa Rica–United States maritime patrol framework.[2]
La Nación says each of 6,452 packages weighed about 550 grams, totalling 3,548 kg; A.M. Costa Rica rounded to about 3,000 one-kilogram packages and Telediario's first tally spoke of more than two tonnes before the final weigh-in.
The detained men were identified only by the surnames Cortés, Vallecillo and Carvajal; given names were not published in the sources opened.
Pretrial detention hearings were pending; no conviction was reported.
Packages bore a turtle logo with Costa Rican and Colombian flags; Security told La Nación the mark does not necessarily identify one criminal group.
Fuerza Pública officers seized nine packs and 158 doses of suspected marijuana plus cash at the Miraflores dike in Taras, Cartago, after three suspects fled. The mixed seizure also contained crack, cocaine, tusi and ecstasy and was handed to judicial authorities.
Costa Rica's Fuerza Pública detained a man in Grecia, Alajuela, on the first night of its Halloween operation after police said he was carrying marijuana, cocaine and crack, and seized the same three drugs and ₡655,000 in cash in Palmares. The operation deployed 1,500 officers for Halloween and the Día de la Mascarada Costarricense.
Costa Rican coast guards intercepted two drug boats in the southern Pacific on 8 July 2026 and detained six crew members, four Colombians and two Ecuadorians. Police said one boat carried about 2,750 kg of marijuana alongside cocaine, the cannabis component recorded here.
Costa Rican coast guards intercepted a 36-foot speedboat about 120 nautical miles off Playa Matapalo, Quepos, and arrested two Nicaraguan crew members. The Drug Control Police later counted 1,940 packages of marijuana weighing about one kilogram each, plus one kilogram of cocaine.
