The morning Monday, July 2, officers of Management Investigation of the Professional Migratory Police arrested a Costa Rican woman during a search in the area of Getsemani, Heredia, as the main suspect of human smuggling ring through the forging of documents.

The woman’s last name Benavides De la O, forged different documents such as bank statements, municipal permits, social security orders, work certificates, among others, for the interested parties to present at the US Embassy and the Canada Visas Center in Costa Rica to demonstrate their links and obligations in Costa Rica as well as the necessary social and economic conditions to help get their travel documents approved.

Once the Visas were approved, Benavides De la O would take care of buying the plane tickets, plan the traveling itinerary and would offer her clients advice on how to behave and what to say in order to get passed migratory control in the United States and Canada.

Per the authorities, the suspect would charge close to $5,000.00 to the victims the majority of which were Costa Rican.

The suspect handled all the operations from her house. She will now have to face trial for human smuggling, and as the responsible of promoting, planning, coordinating, and executing the transfer of Costa Ricans, felonies that could represent a sentence of between two to six years of prison.