On Thanksgiving, two American citizens were detained at Juan Santamaria Airport under suspicion of money laundering. Their names are Collin Andrew Skees (25) and Benjamin Edward Howze (41). They were traveling to the United States with $644,344 in clean bills, wrapped like drugs are often smuggled, in layers of plastic, all tucked among clean changes of underwear for Skees and Howze, in their carry-on luggage. They had a connecting flight to Atlanta departing two hours after their arrival from Los Angeles.

They were detained and questioned by authorities, and booked under suspicion of being part of the growing money laundering business which makes Costa Rica Number One in Central America in this activity, according to various crime news outlets. Costa Rica’s Deputy Prosecutor of Alajuela requested the usual 3-months of Preventive Detention for the two individuals, to allow authorities to do further research into the backgrounds of the two men, after drug sniffing canines signaled heavy drug residue on the money being transported. The Court rejected the Prosecutor’s request.

Skees and Howze took off on a direct flight back to the United States two hours after their release, leaving the money in the hands of the arresting officers. It was subsequently discovered that Skees and Howze are probably members of a well-known gang of drug smugglers who receive drugs from Mexico, and smuggle them into the United States for sale. They turned up on a list of the Drug Enforcement Agency’s list of narco-traffickers, but by the time it was discovered, the judge had already rejected the request by the Prosecutor to detain them. They were released to return to their home country.

According to former DEA official Carlos Fernandez Mora, “This is the problem we have in Costa Rica. We finally have well-trained drug sniffing dogs, experienced Customs and Immigration officials, and a vast knowledge of how illicit money and drugs move through this tiny country. So what happens next? The courts do not do their part to support those drug interdiction efforts – criminals walk away free. My question would certainly be, who benefits from this situation? Where does the confiscated money end up? Until we answer those questions, we will continue to lose the war on both money laundering and drug smuggling.”
Skees and Howze had far too brief of a vacation in the land of Pura Vida. They will probably visit again

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