Five Colombians held as Costa Rica seizes 8 kg of marijuana at sea
Costa Rica's National Coast Guard stopped a go-fast boat in the Caribbean off Limón on the night of 18 December 2022 and detained five Colombians. Officers seized eight kilograms of marijuana alongside one tonne of cocaine, and the detainees face international drug-trafficking charges.
🇨🇷 Caribbean Sea, about 142 km off the coast of Limón, Limón Province · Costa Rica
Costa Rica’s National Coast Guard stopped a go-fast boat in the Caribbean off
Limón on the night of Sunday 18 December 2022 and detained its five crew
members.[1]The detainees were identified by the surnames Pino, Mercado,
Escalante, Anaez and Sánchez, all Colombian nationals.[1]Officers seized
eight kilograms of marijuana aboard the boat, alongside one tonne of cocaine.[1]
A United States aircraft on a preventive overflight spotted the boat about 142
kilometres off the Limón coast and alerted the Costa Rican authorities.[1]The
United States provided the aircraft under a bilateral agreement on joint ocean
surveillance.[1]Coast guard officers chased and stopped the craft, which was
more than nine metres long and carried no name, registration or flag.[1]Aboard they found fuel containers as well as the drugs.[1]
The coast guard took the drugs and detainees ashore, and the Security Ministry
reported the results of the operation on the Monday.[1]The suspects face
charges of international drug trafficking, which carries a maximum of 20 years
in prison in Costa Rica.[1]
Photos and video
Officials of Costa Rica's Security Ministry display the drugs seized in the Caribbean operation. Photo: Ministerio de Seguridad Pública de Costa RicaPhoto details
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Arrested
5
Cannabis
8 kg
Agency type
Coast guard
Cannabis
Herbal cannabis (8 kg)
Activity
Trafficking
Setting
Prison
Case stage
Charged
Sources
Infobaeinfobae.comESIncautan una tonelada de cocaína y capturan a cinco colombianos en Costa Rica
Open questions the AI reported
Only one accessible account of the operation could be opened; no official Costa Rican statement or second outlet was found to confirm the figures.
The eight kilograms are stated for marijuana only; the one tonne of cocaine in the same haul is not counted as cannabis.
The detainees are named only by surname, with no ages or full names published.
No charging decision, custody ruling or court outcome was reported after the Security Ministry announcement.
The source gives only the night of Sunday 18 December 2022 for the interception; 20 December is the publication date.
The boat's position is given only as about 142 kilometres off the Limón coast, so the coordinates are for the provincial centre.
The article's closing paragraphs describe Panamanian proceedings against 27 Colombians and the Clan del Golfo, apparently a separate case, and are not treated as facts about this seizure.
The agency is described only as la guarda costera and as the Servicio Nacional de Guardacostas, with no statement naming its command or the unit involved.
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.
