HomeNewsBriefCosta Rica Dismantles Maximum Security Inmate’s Drug Ring, Again
BRIEF

Costa Rica Dismantles Maximum Security Inmate’s Drug Ring, Again

COSTA RICA / 17 MAY 2018 BY TRISTAN CLAVEL EN

The dismantling, for the second time in two years, of a drug trafficking organization in Costa Rica led by a man held in a maximum security prison is a worrying sign of the ease with which criminal groups operate in a country with a growing role in the international drug trade.

On May 16, police in Costa Rica arrested 13 individuals accused of belonging to a microtrafficking ring operating across the capital, San José, and in various other parts of the country, reported CRHoy.

The group moved drugs from the Caribbean port of Limón to be sold in San José and its surroundings, and was managed from the La Reforma maximum security prison by Leonel Mora Núñez, alias “Gordo Leo,” according to authorities.

Mora Núñez, who was sentenced in 2009 to ten years in prison on drug trafficking charges, gave orders to his second-in-command via telephone, according to La Nación.

SEE ALSO: Costa Rica News and Profile

The organization is suspected of controling dozens of sales points across the capital that grossed around 35 million colones (approximately $60,000) per day. These sales points were divided between street corner vendors and “bunkers,” a term that generally describes highly secure places with street access.

Authorities also accuse Gordo Leo’s structure of having carried out a series of murders, including one, in 2007, in which the victim was abducted and tortured. In another, last June, the victim’s house was riddled with more than 200 bullets, suggesting the structure possessed a considerable arsenal and firepower.

This is not the first time authorities announce having dismantled an orgaization led by Gordo Leo. In 2015, around 40 individuals were arrested for drug trafficking under the maximum security inmate’s orders.

InSight Crime Analysis

The ability of a maximum security inmate to rebuild a microtrafficking structure and generate nearly $2 million a month in less than three years points to deep flaws within the penitentiary system in Costa Rica, including the authorities’ inability to control prisoners’ communications with the outside world. In a bizarre event last month, penitentiary guards in La Reforma prison found cell phones smuggled into the facility using cats.

The fact that the group is accused of controlling dozens of sales point across San José also points to possible collusion with local law enforcement.

These bunkers often hold much more drugs and cash than a simple street vendor and are an immobile target for police, meaning their success often relies on corrupting local law enforcement.

These issues are particularly worrying given Costa Rica’s expanding role within the international drug trade. Evidence already points to a correlated sophistication of local groups and a growing presence of foreign transnational organizations in the country.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

CHINA AND CRIME / 5 APR 2022

The recent discovery of a copper smuggling ring in Costa Rica sheds light on how copper theft is gradually becoming…

COLOMBIA / 23 MAY 2022

A reconfiguration of the groups that control micro-trafficking in Colombia’s capital city is responsible for the series of macabre homicides…

BAGDAD / 15 FEB 2022

The leader of Panama’s largest drug trafficking group has been arrested in Costa Rica and is set to be extradited…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Continues to be Highlighted

3 MAR 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-director Jeremy McDermott was the featured guest on the Americas Quarterly podcast, where he provided an expert overview of the changing dynamics…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 Attracts Attention

24 FEB 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published its ranking of Venezuela’s ten organized crime groups to accompany the launch of the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory. Read…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime on El País Podcast

10 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-founder, Jeremy McDermott, was among experts featured in an El País podcast on the progress of Colombia’s nascent peace process.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Interviewed by Associated Press

3 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s Co-director Jeremy McDermott was interviewed by the Associated Press on developments in Haiti as the country continues its prolonged collapse. McDermott’s words were republished around the world,…

THE ORGANIZATION

Escaping Barrio 18

27 JAN 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…