Costa Rica’s Ministry of Public Security confirmed that officers from Fuerza Pública conducted a raid in the district of Pavas, San Jose the afternoon of this Wednesay, December 20 with the objective of getting rid of drugs, illegal firearms and other items that represent a risk to the inhabitants and with the purpose of battling organized crime in this area.
A total of 250 police officers with the assistance of specialized units such as the Group of Operational Support (GAO) and tactic units, made their way through different neighborhoods in the district of Pavas.

The raid began at 2 p.m. and included the neighborhoods of Rincon Grande, Finca San Juan, Bribri, Lomas del Rio, among other communities that are known to be problematic and areas were members of different gangs reside.

The officers stopped and checked vehicles, asked for identification documents and checked for possession of illegal merchandise or artifacts.

After just a couple of hours the police had seized 600 doses of drugs (400 of them crack), two firearms, three motorcycles, and had arrested two people that were requested by the police; 50 undocumented individuals were also reported the majority foreigners.

Juan José Andrade, director of Fuerza Publica, explained that the operation is an effort to battle organized crime and send a message to the structures operating in the area, which so far have been operating “freely”; “the police is not acting ‘at the spur of the moment’, this is part of an intelligence work, we have information of specific areas that require police interventions”.

The problem in these areas is mainly the presence of drug trafficking operations which are quite lucrative, this generates not just problems for the communities but eventually it creates violent conflicts between gangs.

Other areas of concern for the authorities include touristic towns such as Jacó and Quepos, and known conflictive areas in San Jose (Hatillo, Desamparados, Leon XII, El Infiernillo).