Cargo theft is a lucrative illicit business in Costa Rica that requires an advanced level of organization and planning, as InSight Crime’s recent reporting revealed. Below we explain how these gangs of highwaymen work.
Where the gangs strike
Cargo theft gangs principally target trucks along two main trade corridors. The first, a 520 km route spanning the length of Costa Rica from the Panama-Costa Rica border in Paso Canoas to Peñas Blancas at the Costa Rica-Nicaragua border, is mainly used by international drivers passing through the country. The second, a 250 km route traversing the country east to west, connects the Caribbean ports in Limón with the Pacific port in Caldera and is mainly used by Costa Rican drivers delivering goods to the ports for export.
How they choose their targets
Criminal groups begin by identifying targets. Costa Rica’s online customs system, the Information Technology for Customs Control (Tecnología de Información para el Control Aduanero – TICA), allows them to view what type of products are inside trailers and shipping containers by entering the truck’s license plate number or shipping container number into the TICA system. Criminals can obtain the numbers through someone within customs or the transportation businesses or by using spotters that take down numbers as the trucks leave the border areas and ports.
SEE ALSO: Highwaymen: How Cargo Theft Gangs Operate in Costa Rica
Authorities and industry insiders believe that criminals receive inside information from the regional online customs system used to track products traveling across Central America, the Single Central American Declaration system (Declaración Única Centroamericana – DUCA). DUCA contains the products trucks are transporting and their total value, truck information, and the driver’s credentials. But only customs agents and people involved in the ground transportation process such as truck drivers, freight forwarders, or transportation business owners, have access to it.
How they stop the truck
Once the gangs have identified their targets, they use a variety of methods to rob the truck. Sometimes they find the driver while he is resting on the side of the road, in a truck yard, or restaurant parking lot. Other times, they use two to three cars to box in the truck while it is driving on the highway to force it to pull over or they approach the truck in areas where it must reduce its speed, such as crossing single-lane bridges or at traffic lights. Robbery crews have even posed as police officers to trick truckers into pulling over while on the highway. Trucks are typically tracked by freight companies with GPS, but gangs disable the trackers with signal jammers.
SEE ALSO: Cocaine and Gold: The Battle to Protect Costa Rica’s Corcovado National Park
What happens to the driver
Once the truck has stopped, typically two gang members board the truck, one from each side of the truck then hold the driver at gunpoint. They may offer money to cooperate with them, but if the driver refuses, they force him into the sleeper cab, bind and gag him, and often beat him. Drivers have been killed and seriously injured during these assaults.
After they have subdued the driver, one of the gang members—usually also an experienced truck driver—will drive the truck away from the robbery site. The robbery crew will often ditch the still bound and gagged driver along the side of the road and take the truck and trailer to a warehouse for storage. Or, they may drive the truck to a remote stretch of roadway, unhook the trailer, and connect it to a different truck. They then deliver the stolen goods to a warehouse, leaving the driver tied up inside the original truck.
Where the cargo goes
According to police investigators, cargo theft gangs have warehouses located all over Costa Rica. The groups have brokers who line up buyers at small retail stores where they will deliver the stolen products once the news of the recent robbery cools down. Then the store owners will sell the stolen products to the public for a half to quarter of the market value of the products.
While these criminal groups appear to operate mainly within Costa Rica, cargo theft affects countries throughout the region. Drivers from across Central America are targeted, often as they carry cargo destined for other countries. The thefts also hit regional tax revenues. Taxes on international goods are not paid until the goods reach their final destination, so are not paid to any country the goods pass through when products are stolen in Costa Rica.
InSight Crime works directly with companies and industry bodies to help them understand and manage organized crime risks, including cargo theft and many other threats across Latin America and the Caribbean. Drawing on the same field research and investigative networks behind this story, we offer tailored diagnostics, briefings, and route- or country-specific analysis and monitoring services. If cargo theft or other criminal threats affect your operations, we’d be glad to talk about how we could support you. Contact us at info@insightcrime.org.
