U.S.-tipped Coast Guard stop off Limon nets 2.2 tonnes of marijuana
On 9 March 2025 the Costa Rican Coast Guard intercepted a go-fast boat about 143 nautical miles off Limon after a U.S. Coast Guard tip, arresting three Nicaraguans and seizing about 2,241 one-kilo packages of marijuana. The suspects awaited a pre-trial detention decision for international drug trafficking.
🇨🇷 Caribbean Sea, about 143 nautical miles off Limon, Limon Province · Costa Rica
On 9 March 2025 a U.S. Coast Guard vessel spotted a suspicious 30-foot go-fast boat with no
registration or flag crossing Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast and passed its coordinates to the Costa
Rican Coast Guard, which intercepted the craft about 143 nautical miles off Limon in Limon
Province.[1]
The boat’s three Nicaraguan crew members were arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking.[1][2]Towed to the Limon Coast Guard station, the craft was found to hold about 2,241 packages of
marijuana weighing roughly one kilogram each, or more than two tonnes.[1][2]The boat, the drugs,
fuel and navigation equipment were confiscated, and the suspects were transferred to the Limon
Public Ministry to await a judge’s decision on pre-trial detention for international drug
trafficking.[1]
The operation was carried out under the Joint Patrol Treaty between Costa Rica and the United
States.[1]Costa Rica seized nearly 32 tonnes of cocaine and about 15 tonnes of marijuana in
2024, according to the ministry.[1]
The boat was carrying more than 50 green sacks in which the blocks of marijuana were stacked when officers seized them, La Prensa reported.[2]The craft was sailing at high speed toward Costa Rican waters, presumably from the Nicaraguan Caribbean, according to the Security Ministry report cited by La Prensa.[2]On noticing the police presence the crew tried to escape with dangerous manoeuvres before officers stopped and boarded the boat.[2]
Photos and video
Seized packages from the intercepted go-fast boat, in photos published with the report.Photo details
Source: A.M. Costa Rica (photos via U.S. Coast Guard) · archived copyAgents of Costa Rica's Drug Control Police guarding the marijuana seized at sea from the Nicaraguan crew. Photo: La Prensa / courtesy of Costa Rica's Public Security Ministry (MSP)Photo details
La Prensalaprensani.comESCosta Rica captura a tres nicaragüenses con más de dos toneladas de marihuana
Open questions the AI reported
The Public Security Ministry's own statement was not opened, so this account follows A.M. Costa Rica's report of it.
Whether the judge ordered pre-trial detention for the three suspects is not reported.
The two published photos could not be visually verified here, so they are linked as published rather than copied.
La Prensa credits the stop to the Coast Guard's GOPES unit with the Air Surveillance Service, while the report already describes a U.S. Coast Guard vessel spotting the boat under the Joint Patrol Treaty; the accounts differ on which air asset made the sighting.
La Prensa says the boat was presumably coming from the Nicaraguan Caribbean without naming the source of that origin, and its 2,241 kilos are described as blocks and sacks rather than a weighed or laboratory total.
The more than 50 sacks are not stated as comparable to the roughly 2,241 one-kilo packages already reported, so the two counts cannot be reconciled from these accounts.
No source gives the exact point of the interception; the coordinates remain those of the provincial centre of Limón.
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.
