The Ministry of Security of Costa Rica has begun the process to purchase a King Air 250 aircraft with the purpose of having more tools and resources to combat drug trafficking and illegal fishing.

At this time the country’s air surveillance depends on a US Lockheed P-3 Orion, a four-engine maritime surveillance aircraft.

The acquisition will be done through a direct purchase to the United States Government; the Ministry of Security has a budget of US$7.5 million that will come from the funds gathered from the corporate taxes. The technological equipment that the plane requires will be donated by the United States.

The contract states that the aircraft will be received in a year’s term but Gustavo Mata, Minister of Security, estimates that it could be delivered within the first trimester of this year.

“The United States helps with the air surveillance, but they don’t do it just for Costa Rica, but for the entire region, so the plane is here a limited time. With this new plane the idea is that it serves the same purpose that the P-3 but only for Costa Rican territory. We will have the possibility to survey our own aerial space in the Pacific and the Caribbean”, explained Mata.

This comes to strengthen the operations of the Costa Rican police that recently also invested $9.69 million in the purchase of 4 vessels two of them 38 feet, one of 45 feet and the fourth one of 85 feet.

The United States had already donated two ships that should be arriving to the country later this year as well as three tactical vehicles to be used by the Specialized Units.

The Costa Rican authorities managed to seize a record of more than 30 tons of cocaine in 2017.