The Servicio Nacional de Guardacostas (National Coast Guard) on Thursday seized a boat carrying 500 kilograms (1,101 pounds), some 81 kilometers (50 miles) off Quepos, in the province of Punaterans.
Five men were arrested, a Costa Rican, a Nicaraguan, an Ecuadorian and two Colombians.
After a tip from U.S. authorities carrying out a joint patrol with Costa Rica, after locating the boat Coast Guard officials boarded the vessel and found inside a cooler used to store fish a total 501 packages weighing approximately one kilogram each.
The detainees will be charged with international drug trafficking.
“The Pacific region is an area widely used by drug traffickers to haul drugs from the south. On this occasion the Coast Guard on patrol along with the United States allowed to generate this seizure,” said the Ministerio de Seguridad Publico (Minister of Security), Michael Soto.
