HomeNewsBrief'Sinaloa Cartel Entrenched in Costa Rica'
BRIEF

'Sinaloa Cartel Entrenched in Costa Rica'

COSTA RICA / 13 DEC 2010 BY INSIGHT CRIME EN

The Sinaloa cartel controls the drug trade in Costa Rica and coordinates cocaine shipments from there to the U.S., a DEA agent said Monday.

Phillip Springer, a DEA representative, said that the Sinaloans have been using Costa Rica as a transit point for awhile, but they are increasingly stockpiling cocaine within the country.

"For the last year and a half to two years, most of the drugs [in Costa Rica] belonged to the Sinaloans," Springer said during a radio interview, according to AFP. "They weren't just working to traffic drugs through Costa Rica, but guarding it there in Costa Rica and storing it in warehouses." The Sinaloans keep a command cell in Costa Rica, he said, and work with Costa Rican and Colombian traffickers.

The Costa Rican government has previously commented on the Sinaloa cartel's expanded presence inside the country, including the previous Vice Minister of Public Security, Gerardo Lascarez.

The Sinaloan cartel is believed to control air strips near the Nicaraguan state of Managua, working with a local gang known as the Tarzanes.

Earlier this year, Costa Rica allowed 7,000 marines and 46 U.S. war ships to enter the country, intended to better combat drug trafficking activity. Congress is currently debating extending the deployment.

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

ARGENTINA / 8 FEB 2023

InSight Crime's 2022 Homicide Round-Up covers more countries than ever before, with a major expansion into nations of the Caribbean.

ARGENTINA / 12 SEP 2022

The consequences of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing are immediate and enormous across Latin America and the Caribbean.

JALISCO CARTEL / 22 JUL 2022

El Chapo's sons, the Jalisco Cartel, more - a free-for-all may be happening in Sonora after the fall of Rafael…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Receives Great Reception

27 MAY 2023

Several of InSight Crime’s most recent articles about Venezuela have been well received by regional media. Our article on Venezuela’s colectivos expanding beyond their political role to control access to…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Chemical Precursor Report Continues

19 MAY 2023

For the second week in a row, our investigation into the flow of precursor chemicals for the manufacture of synthetic drugs in Mexico has been cited by multiple regional media…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Chemical Precursor Report Widely Cited

THE ORGANIZATION / 12 MAY 2023

We are proud to see that our recently published investigation into the supply chain of chemical precursors feeding Mexico’s synthetic drug production has been warmly received.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Paraguay Election Coverage Draws Attention 

5 MAY 2023

InSight Crime looked at the various anti-organized crime policies proposed by the candidates in Paraguay’s presidential election, which was won on April 30 by Santiago Peña. Our pre-election coverage was cited…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in OAS, CARICOM Reports

28 APR 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s work was cited nine times in a new report by the Organization of American States (OAS) titled “The Impact of Organized Crime on Women,…