By Wendy Anders

Monday, the Judicial Investigation Organization (OIJ) arrested seven more members of a marijuana cultivation and distribution network based in Costa Rica’s southern Perez Zeledón region, stated Walter Espinoza, OIJ Director, in a press conference yesterday.

The operation was led by five brothers by the last names Vargas Hidalgo who 21 years ago almost to the day, in August 1995, were arrested for marijuana and cocaine trafficking. After serving long sentences, explained Espinoza, the brothers regrouped to begin cultivating marijuana to sell to a select clientele throughout the country.

Another seven members of the same group were arrested earlier this month on August 6 as the result of an eight-month OIJ investigation into their financial and drug dealing activities.

The fourteen members arrested to date include the five brothers and some of their family members including spouses, children, romantic partners, as well as other allies, said Espinoza.

The marijuana was cultivated in different areas inside the La Amistad International Park.

The 401,000-hectare La Amistad International Park was established in 1988, and is equally split between Costa Rica and Panama in the Talamanca mountain range.

It is the largest nature reserve in Central America with great environmental importance in the New World tropics for its location along the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor. Together with a 15 km buffer zone, it contains about 20% of the region’s species diversity, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) which includes the park as one of its World Heritage Sites.

The OIJ’s investigation revealed that the Vargas Hidalgo brothers relied on two national park guards for assistance in their operation, and managed to obtain cooperation from these public employees in a number of key logistical areas including transporting food to workers planting marijuana, assistance with caring for the seedlings and crops, and transporting the harvested marijuana. The park guards also alerted the brothers about police presence in the area thus helping them avoid detection and arrest.

In the first wave of arrests on August 6, OIJ officials located and destroyed 14,000 marijuana plants, reported Espinoza, and also seized three of the group’s vehicles. The seven members arrested at that time are currently being held while under investigation.

In Monday’s second wave of arrests, key evidence was located including documents, computers, cash, and other electronic devices which will aid in prosecuting the group members, said Espinoza. Espinoza hopes these members will also be detained while the investigation continues.

The group funneled their assets into real estate and vehicles, according to the OIJ, and the financial investigation of the group is ongoing.

Likewise, the OIJ has yet to determine the exact extent of the areas under cultivation inside the park as the mountainous terrain is very difficult to navigate, but says the area is “extensive.” While some areas had full-grown marijuana plants, others had seedlings which are harder to locate in the forest vegetation, explained Espinoza.

The Vargas Hidalgo group was the most well-planned and well-structured marijuana-growing and selling operation in Costa Rica’s southern region, said Espinoza, and apparently the region’s only such group.