Costa Rica arrests four suspects allegedly linked to Panamanian criminal gangs

Costa Rican authorities arrested four men who allegedly tried to enter the country through the southern border while linked to Panamanian criminal organizations involved in drug trafficking and contract killings.

The Public Security Ministry identified the detainees by the surnames Gutiérrez, Jiménez, Santoya and González. Authorities said intelligence work connected them to groups known as Los Terroristas de San Miguelito and Los Terroristas de Puerto Armuelles.

“They tried to enter the country on Saturday by land at the southern border post,” Deputy Interior Minister Omer Badilla said. He added that intelligence had identified possible links to Panamanian criminal structures. The arrests involved Costa Rica’s National Intelligence and Security Directorate, Border Police and Professional Migration Police.

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They tried to enter the country on Saturday by land at the southern border post. This intelligence information made it possible to identify that these people were allegedly linked to Panamanian criminal structures involved in drug trafficking and contract killings.

“Costa Rica maintains a firm migration-control and security policy based on intelligence, interinstitutional coordination and international cooperation, to prevent people linked to criminal structures from using our territory,” Badilla said.

The ministry said the four people would be handed over to Panama after the necessary coordination, preventing them from remaining in Costa Rica. Officials did not specify their nationalities, although Costa Rican media reported that they were Panamanian.

Authorities describe Costa Rica as a logistical hub where trafficking groups receive and store drug shipments from South America before sending them mainly to the United States and Europe in containers. The country has also experienced a rise in homicides, with authorities linking more than 60% to drug trafficking. Officials say they have dismantled numerous criminal organizations and arrested their main leaders, including members of the Caribbean Cartel, described as the first local drug cartel established in the country.

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Costa Rica maintains a firm migration-control and security policy based on intelligence, interinstitutional coordination and international cooperation, to prevent people linked to criminal structures from using our territory.