Anti-narcotics officers assigned to the Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO) in the province of Alajuela arrested a tourist found in possession of nearly two kilograms of powdered cocaine hydrochloride. According to a press release by the Ministry of Public Security (Spanish initials: MSP), the tourist was trying to board a flight to Spain; he was arrested for attempting to smuggle a controlled substance across international borders.

Airport security agents conducting baggage checks noticed something unusual about one of the suitcases carried by the tourist. A secondary inspection revealed a hidden compartment, wherein 1,964 grams of cocaine had been flattened and compressed into a rectangular pack. At that point, officers from the Narcotics Control Police (Spanish initials: PCD) were summoned to the scene.

The report by the MSP indicates that the tourist is a 29-year old man by the last name of Lopez, who carries a passport from Nicaragua. He arrived in Costa Rica last Tuesday, and he entered the country by means of the border checkpoint located in Peñas Blancas, province of Guanacaste. The man tried to leave the country on an Iberia transatlantic flight headed to the Barajas Airport in Madrid.

The suspected smuggler, who does not have a criminal history, is currently in custody at the criminal justice complex in downtown Alajuela, where 17 other foreign travelers have been processed this year for alleged instances of drug trafficking at the busy SJO air terminals. Cocaine is the most commonly trafficked substance, and the hidden compartment method is also common, followed by body-packing (ingestion), strapping to body parts, and dilution into liquid form for subsequent bottling.