367,460 cannabis plants cut in 27 Talamanca plantations
Costa Rica's Drug Control Police and supporting units cut 367,460 cannabis plants in 27 plantations in the Talamanca mountains of Limón. A medical team attached to the operation treated 330 people in the area, part of a mountain deployment backed by aircraft and border police.
🇨🇷 Finca 20, Alto Bley, Monteverde Arriba, Arco Iris, Cerro Congo, Asunción and Valle de las Rosas, Talamanca, Limón · Costa Rica
Plants destroyed
367,460
Agencies
Policía de Control de Drogas (PCD), Fuerza Pública +3
Drug Control Police officers cut 367,460 cannabis plants in 27 plantations in
the Talamanca mountains of Limón.[1]The plantations were found in Finca 20,
Alto Bley, Monteverde Arriba, Arco Iris, Cerro Congo, Asunción and Valle de las
Rosas.[2]
The Drug Control Police (PCD) worked with the Public Force, the Police
Intervention Unit, the Air Surveillance Service and the Border Police.[1]Officers found the growers hiding the plants under mesh and a framework of rods
overgrown with passion-fruit vines, which made the plantations almost impossible
to see.[1]The Ministry of Public Security said in a statement that the
intelligence work still located the hidden plots.[2]
A medical team attached to the operation, including two doctors, a pharmacist, a
pharmacy technician, two nurses, two volunteer male nurses and a cook, treated
330 people in the area.[2]The team completed vaccination schedules and
applied influenza vaccine, and handed out soap, sanitary towels, nappies,
clothing and notebooks while running hand-washing workshops.[1]
Officers found the 27 plantations in farm plots during an intensive mountain
operation.[3]The national eradication total reached more than 1,126,439
plants cut in 2016, alongside more than 1.8 tonnes of cannabis seized that year.[1]
Photos and video
Photo published with the report on the Talamanca eradication, named Marihuana-Talamanca-Drogas-plantaciones; the page carries no caption or credit for it.Photo details
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Source: El Mundo CRSecond photo in the body of the report, captioned Marihuana-Talamanca-Drogas-plantaciones (2) and placed within the account of the operation.Photo details
Teleticateletica.comESPolicía erradica más de 360.000 plantas de marihuana en Talamanca
Repretelrepretel.comESPolicía destruye 367 mil plantas de marihuana en Talamanca
Open questions the AI reported
The reports give no separate date for the eradication; 9 June 2016 is the publication date of all three accounts and stands in for the incident date.
No arrests, charges or court steps were reported for the cultivators of the plantations.
No weight, area or street value was published for the 367,460 plants cut.
The 1,126,439 plants and 1.8 tonnes are the ministry's yearly running totals for 2016, not quantities from this operation, so they are not recorded as figures.
The three accounts reproduce the same Ministry of Public Security statement, so they do not confirm the details independently.
The two photos on the El Mundo CR page carry no caption or credit, so it is not confirmed which part of the operation they show.
Fuerza Publica officers in Los Diques, Cartago arrested a motorcyclist surnamed Otarola after he tried to flee a stop, seizing 3,858 drug doses including 701 marijuana wraps. The suspect was placed at the disposal of the Public Prosecution Service, with the Drug Control Police handling the judicial procedures.
A police chase in San Rafael de Alajuela ended with three people detained and 100 packages of marijuana seized by the Fuerza Pública and the Drug Control Police. The operation also turned up 340 more grams of drug, a firearm, a magazine and 26 rounds in a house.
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.
Costa Rican police destroyed 120,945 cannabis plants across 35 plots in the mountainous Telire district of Limón during a ten-day eradication operation. The sites covered about 19,000 square metres and included Alto and Bajo Bley, Lagunas de Alto Bley and Cerro Xorbata.
