In 24 raids that took place this Monday, the Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ) in Costa Rica arrested that same number of people as suspects of forging documents in the country.

The raids took place in different areas of San José, Alajuela, Puntarenas and Cartago. The suspects arrested are 22 males, 1 female and 1 minor. According to Emilio Segura, Chief of the transit specialized unit of OIJ, affirmed that the investigation had been ongoing for several months for the crimes of public and/or private document forging, distribution and sale of forged documents; “the documents included: high school diplomas, drivers’ licenses, Riteve stickers, marchamo stickers, passports and national identification documents”.

During the raids the agents confiscated computers, printers and scanners; three vehicles and five motorcycles, they were also able to collect evidence such as Riteve and marchamo stickers, templates of high school diplomas and stamps, among others.

According to Segura, the majority of the suspects arrested have criminal records, some of them for fraud, others for use of forged documents, robbery and theft.
The leader of the group is a man of last names Laitano Palacios and his right hand a woman of surnames Ríos Varela.

“A fake drivers license, for example, could have a cost of between 40 thousand to 70 thousand colones (approx. $70-$123 USD), but if the person didn’t have the approved theory test this would increase the amount by double”, explained Segura.

It is estimated that the group could have been operating since 2016.