Q COSTARICA — Four European countries have requested information from Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) to advance drug trafficking investigations involving Costa Ricans, with the goal of speeding up proceedings leading to extraditions.
These countries are Belgium, France, Italy, and the Netherlands, nations that host several of the main ports in Europe, where large quantities of containers of merchandise from the Americas arrive.
These access points are favored by organized crime, which sends shipments to its partners in that region, despite the security operations the government claims to be carrying out in Limón.
Michael Soto, deputy director of the OIJ, confirmed to CRHoy.com that he expects more meetings that will lead to the opening of new cases in the coming weeks.
“The idea is to exchange information in meetings with the anti-drug chiefs of France, Italy, and the Netherlands. We won’t rule out other meetings with countries like Belgium, Spain, and England. There are possibilities of pursuing cases with them, and others that are already in the works. The idea is to generate that exchange of information and be able to generate positive results. Without a doubt, this legislation is opening up a wide range of possibilities to help the country improve its security indicators and ensure that these internationally influential kingpins are brought to these countries.”
The cases in Europe are less advanced than those coordinated with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), as key elements for formal charges have not been gathered.
So far, only the case of Johnny Angulo Fernández, alias John Cadenas, wanted in Livorno, Italy, has been finalized. His possible extradition is still being evaluated in Costa Rica.
This individual was apparently in charge of a gang that coordinated shipments from Punta Burica and the Osa Triangle via various routes to be delivered to containers crossing the Atlantic.
Local investigations, with open files pending indictment, have revealed other criminal groups operating from the Costa Rican Caribbean and shipping drugs to Western Europe, placing them under the scrutiny of national and international authorities.
“We know that there are Costa Ricans who have been smuggling cocaine for years through containers to European countries, and that they may have links to them, so we are offering that possibility of coordination. We have already discussed this issue with the French and the Netherlands,” Soto explained.
Information was also coordinated on drug trafficking routes that have changed or were not on the radar, in addition to exchanging contacts to expand links and generate new cases, based on ongoing files in Costa Rica or in countries interested in prosecuting Costa Ricans linked to drug trafficking.
In order to expand the scope of this connection, the OIJ will participate in a Europol meeting in Spain in October, where it will continue the discussions with European countries that did not materialize in Nashville.
An international operation coordinated by Europol dismantled a transnational organization that trafficked cocaine from Costa Rica to Europe, with shipments via Spain and Portugal.
“Due to the increased police pressure in other well-known ports, such as Guayaquil in Ecuador, criminal organizations have increasingly sought alternatives, considered safer locations for their operations. In recent years, this drug trafficking organization has turned to Costa Rica as a logistics base to receive cocaine shipments from Colombia, store them, and prepare them for shipment to Europe,” Europol authorities acknowledged.
The number of extraditables, since the arrest of former minister and magistrate, Celso Gamboa, in July, has increased to five, with the capture on Thursday of Jordi Picado Grijalva, known by the alias “Noni”, wanted by the DEA.
Rándall Zúñiga, director of the OIJ, confirmed that “Noni” is the brother of Luis Manuel Picado Grijalva, alias ‘Shock,’ who was arrested in England on December 29, 2024, thanks to coordination between the OIJ and the DEA.
The other three extraditables in custody who are in the process of extradition to the United States for the alleged crime of international drug trafficking are: Edwin López Vega, (alias Pecho de Rata), Johnny Angulo Fernández (alias John Cadenas), and Jonathan Guillermo Álvarez Alfaro.
A report by SemanarioUniversidad last month stated that extraditables could total more than 80, given that about 84 Costa Ricans are wanted by Interpol, according to a Prosecutor’s Office official who told the Constitutional Reform Commission that it was discussing the proposal that opened the possibility of extraditing Costa Ricans.