Costa Rican police raided 29 locations this Wednesday morning to bring down a drug trafficking operating the southern zone of the country which was headed by two former Coast Guard officers.

According to the District Attorney office, the investigation began in 2016; as a result of today’s operation, the police arrested 22 suspects, among them four Coast Guard officers from Golfito and a female Public Force police officer. This is one of 12 operations related to the same case that resulted in almost $1 million dollars and 8.5 tons of cocaine seized.

The operation was carried out by members of the Drug Control Police, Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ), members of the Tactical Unit of Public Security, Aerial Surveillance and had the presence of judges and the District Attorney’s office.

The drug trafficking group had been offering services to drug cartels in South America, they picked up the drugs and transported them to different properties and locations in Puerto Jimenez, they will later turn it over to other parties to be moved to North.

Sometimes they would receive packets of cocaine as payment which they would sell in different areas of the country. Members of the organization would also take care of laundering the funds by purchasing properties, machinery, cattle and luxury vehicles.

The investigation also confirms that the organization would recruit police officers to get otherwise confidential information regarding the positions and movements of the Coast Guard Services.