Driver Found With An AK-47, 9mm Guns, Ammunition and Wads of Cash In Car in Cuidad Colon

The suspect, believed to be part of the Los Laras criminal gang, has a criminal record that includes attempted murder, robbery and possession of illegal weapons.

Rico

23 August 2017

1159

Fuerza Publica officers of the GAO (in helmets) specialized police unit safeguard the scene, while a police dogs sniffs for hidden illegal drugs.

A routine police spot-check on the road from Santa Ana to Cuidad Colon nets wads of cash and three weapons, an AK-47 assault rifle and two 9-millimeter hand guns and boxes with a large quantity of ammunition.

According to the preliminary information of Fuerza Publica (police), the money in the vehicle amounted to ¢14 million colones.

“The officers were in a spot-check, they see the car pass and he (the driver) becomes suspicious to see the police presence. That is why the vehicle was stopped and weapons and was found,” said Carlos Hidalgo, spokespersons for the Ministerio de Seguridad Pública (MSP).

The police chase was very short. Arrested, less than a kilometer from the toll booths on the Santa Ana to Cuidad Colon road was a 31-year-old man identified by his last names, Ortega Salazar, behind the wheel of a late model Toyota Fortuner, that is registered to his sister.

In the back police found the banned assault rifle, two 9mm handguns, ammunition and cash wrapped in a plastic bag.

AK-47’s are banned in Costa Rica.

The MSP says the man had a criminal record that includes attempted murder robbery and in possession of illegal weapons and is believed to be part of the Los Lara criminal gang, operating in San Jose.