Costa Rican authorities carried out 40 searches this Tuesday morning in different areas of the country in relation to an international human smuggling case, an investigation that was carried out for over 2 years and involved the different entities of the Ministry of Security, the Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ), the General Directorate of Migration and the Public Ministry as well as Panamanian authorities.

According to Walter Espinoza, director of OIJ, in total 29 people were detained, among them 10 migration officers; 4 other suspects are expected to be arrested promptly.

During a press conference held today, Espinoza explained: “the operation involved a group of people with links to countries in Asia and Europe, these group had contacts in Costa Rica where 3 people who lead the structure would facilitate the transit of Asians (mainly Chinese) to Costa Rica, some of them would stay in Costa Rica, while others would be transferred to USA and Canada through Panama. The ones that stayed in the country were placed in an Asian seafood restaurant in La Sabana and supermarkets in San Antonio de Belén and other areas where they worked in vulnerable conditions.”

Espinoza also explained that another structure of this organized crime entity was also operating within Costa Rica, some of them in the Juan Santamaria Airport, others in the border migratory offices that would allow the illegal entry to the country, as well as a lawyer of last name Azofeifa, and others that would help with logistics and international connections.

Attorney General, Emilia Navas, affirmed that according to the investigation there were a total of 110 people smuggled, among them 3 minors; the organization would charge approximately $22,000.00 per person; during the search authorities seized firearms, forged documents, vehicles, cash in different currencies (colones, dollars and yuans), computers and other technological equipment.

The operation carried out in Panamanian territory resulted in 10 people detained.

“This is a great example of what we can accomplish with all institutions working together, we will not tolerate any more corruption, we are working on cleaning the house”, commented Raquel Vargas, Director of Migration.

Additional information on this criminal organization will be released by the authorities when the evidence collected today has been analyzed and testimonies have been taken.