Three delivery and distribution workers from the British American Tobacco Group in Costa Rica were rescued by law enforcement officers after being taken hostage by two suspects, one of them armed with a pellet gun. According to metro reporter Alejandro Fonseca of daily tabloid Diario Extra, the incident occurred near the dairy farming community of Coronado, located in the outskirts of the capital city of Costa Rica.

The report from Diario Extra explains that the three employees had completed a delivery of cigarette cartons and other tobacco products to a liquor store in Coronado when they were accosted by two armed individuals, who were dressed in clothing that resembled the uniforms of British American Tobacco Group employees in Costa Rica. The suspects commandeered the Daihatsu Terios delivery vehicle and forced the three delivery workers inside at gunpoint.

Unbeknownst to the suspects, a passerby was watching the crime unfold from just around the corner while using a mobile phone to relay the actions to a dispatcher from Fuerza Publica (the national police force of Costa Rica). The Fuerza Publica chief of the Goicoechea district, Nelson Barquero, explained that there were about $5,000 worth of tobacco merchandise inside the vehicle at the time, and the delivery workers had already collected $8,000 in cash.

Thanks to the call by the alert passerby, Fuerza Publica patrol cars were immediately used to put up roadblocks just a few hundred meters in every direction leading out of the vicinity; everywhere the suspects drove they encountered patrol cars and police officers waiting for them.

In the end, a single patrol car blocked the suspects, who abandoned the delivery vehicle and started running, only to be tackled and taken down by officers after a foot chase. A pellet gun and a .22 caliber pistol were confiscated, and both suspects were found to have had prior arrests and investigations for theft. The British American Tobacco Group employees were not harmed.

Ever since the Tobacco Control Law was passed in Costa Rica a few years ago, cigarette smuggling and theft of tobacco products have dramatically increased in our country, and some legal analysts are concerned that this rising black market may attract undue violence. Certain provisions of the Tobacco Control Law impose a much higher sales tax on tobacco products, and they also ban the sale of single cigarettes or of packs that contain less than 20 units.