Q COSTA RICA – The Organismo Investigación Judicial (OIJ), Costa Rica’s judicial police, announced the creation of a major crimes unit to combat the ‘elites’ of organized crime.
The unit, Seccióon Especializada Contra Crimen Organizado (SECCR), that is made up of 20 agents, began operations on March 1.
Walter Espinoza, director of the OIJ, said the group was born out of a need to combat the “specialized criminals” plaguing the country.
According to Espinoza, the idea was inspired due to the “increase in violence, the number of homicides and the growth of criminal groups involved in drug trafficking”.
Christian Montenegro, heading the SECCR, explained that the agents are group specialized in fraud, corruption, money laundering, kidnappings and narcotics, drawn from different sections of the OIJ.
The agents fo the SECCR, under the direction of Departamento de Investigaciones Criminales (DIC) – Department of Criminal Investigations, received training on organized crime in Colombia and Mexico.
