Seven held as Costa Rica seizes 3,250 kg marijuana in Pacific
Costa Rica's coast guard intercepted two go-fast boats in the Pacific on 19 December 2022 and detained four Nicaraguans and three Colombians. Officers seized 3,250 kg of marijuana, 1,625 kg on each boat, which the authorities said had come from Colombia.
🇨🇷 Pacific waters off Golfo Dulce and Cabo Matapalo, Osa Peninsula · Costa Rica
Costa Rica’s National Coast Guard intercepted two high-speed drug boats in
Pacific waters.[1]Officers detained four Nicaraguan citizens on one boat and
three Colombians on the other, seven people in total.[1]The crew of the first
boat ignored orders to stop and tried to flee, so officers fired on the engines
to disable it.[2]The first interception happened at 5:30 a.m. off Estero
Grande beach in Golfo Dulce.[2]The second happened at 8:25 a.m. about 120
kilometres off Cabo Matapalo on the Osa Peninsula, where three Colombians were
apprehended.[2]The second boat was stopped about three hours after the first,
a few kilometres away in the same Pacific zone.[1]
Each boat carried 1,625 kilograms of marijuana, a combined 3,250 kilograms.[1]Drug-control police confirmed the weights after bringing both craft into port
and completing their examinations.[1]The Security Ministry said both loads
had come from Colombia and pointed to the identical quantities as a link between
the cases.[2]The Colombian-crewed boat also carried five kilograms of
cocaine, which is not counted in the cannabis total.[2]
Both boats travelled at high speed with no flag or name.[1]Authorities
reported the two operations on Tuesday.[1]
Photos and video
The page photo of the 3.2-tonne marijuana seizure in Costa Rica. Photo: @seguridadcrc via Semana.Photo details
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Arrested
7
Cannabis
3.25 t
Agency type
Coast guard
Cannabis
Herbal cannabis (3.25 t)
Activity
Trafficking
Setting
Port or sea
Case stage
Under investigation
Force
Shots fired
Route
Colombia → Costa Rica
Sources
Semanasemana.comESTres colombianos fueron capturados en Costa Rica con 3,2 toneladas de marihuana - Semana
Teleticateletica.comESEn tres horas, Policía frustra traslado de 3.2 toneladas de marihuana colombiana (Galería de fotos)
Open questions the AI reported
The incident date is inferred as Monday 19 December 2022 from Teletica's report that the first case occurred 'el lunes' at 5:30 a.m., with the results announced on Tuesday 20 December; no source states the calendar date directly.
The five kilograms of cocaine reported aboard the second boat are excluded from the cannabis figures.
Teletica also reports 305 kilograms of apparent marijuana found in an abandoned vehicle near Quepos; that separate seizure is left out of this report.
The Semana article also recalls the Caribbean operation with five Colombians, 999 kilos of cocaine and eight kilos of marijuana; that is the separate recorded Limon event, not this one.
The opened sources give no names, ages, charges or court outcome for the seven detainees.
No separate official Security Ministry statement could be opened; the account rests on the two outlets' reports of its announcements.
Costa Rica's National Coast Guard detained two Ecuadorian men in a 38-foot go-fast boat 52 nautical miles south-east of Punta Burica and seized 2,648 one-kilogram marijuana packages at Golfito. The Public Ministry is deciding their legal situation, and no charges or court step have been reported.
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 National Coast Guard reported seizing 14,912 kilos of marijuana as part of more than 44 tonnes of drugs intercepted in maritime operations so far in 2026, with 66 people apprehended and 26 vessels seized. The South Pacific accounted for 24 interventions against one in the Caribbean, in operations the service attributed to joint work with the United States, Panama and Colombia.
Costa Rica's Fuerza Pública and Drug Control Police seized 524 marijuana packages, more than 250 kg in total, from a vehicle at a road control in Macho Gaff, San Isidro de El Guarco, Cartago. Two men suspected of transporting the load were handed to the Public Ministry, and the packages bore images of Mexican trafficking figures.
