A small aircraft crashed into the sea just two kilometers off the coast of Puerto Jimenez in the southern zone of Costa Rica during the early morning hours Tuesday, according to Costa Rica’s Ministry of Public Security (MSP).

The aircraft went down just two kilometers off Carate beach, while apparently coming in for a landing at a clandestine airstrip, according to authorities.

Coast Guard units responding to the scene found the aircraft still sinking at sea, with the remains of a man appearing to be between 45 and 50 years of age inside. Amongst the man’s belongings were Mexican currency and a Mexican newspaper, according to authorities.

Nearly simultaneously, police officers located an abandoned vehicle loaded with some 370 kilos of cocaine in the San Lazaro district of Puerto Jimenez. Authorities believe the cocaine was eventually to be loaded aboard the aircraft and flown northward to Mexico, en route to the United States.

The ill-fated aircraft marks the third crashing of a “narco plane” in Costa Rica in less than a week.

On Thursday, a single-engine aircraft crashed and burned near Nosara, in Costa Rica’s northwestern Guanacaste province, killing both of the aircraft’s occupants.

Amongst the wreckage, authorities discovered 50 kilos of cocaine, US $45,000 in cash, and multiple firearms.

That same day, the remains of another crashed aircraft, which unofficial sources have linked to the infamous Sinaloa drug cartel headed by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, were found recently buried – apparently by heavy machinery – at a clandestine airstrip on a palm plantation in Quepos, located on Costa Rica’s central Pacific coast.

 

Costa Rica officials expect record year for cocaine trafficking

Costa Rica’s Ministry of Public Security (MSP) and Drug Control Police (PCD) are expecting a record level of cocaine trafficking through the country and its territorial waters this year, due in large part to increases in production in the source countries of Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia.

The MSP estimates that some 1,700 tons of cocaine will flow through Costa Rica and its territorial waters this year, a nearly 42 percent increase from the 1,200 tons estimated to have been trafficked through Costa Rican territory in 2015 and 2.5 times as much as the 670 tons believed to have been trafficked through the country in 2014.

Last year, Cost Rican authorities were able to seize just 15 tons – less than 1 percent – of the estimated 1,200 tons believed to have flowed through the country’s territory.

According to the PCD, the amount of land dedicated to coca production – the plant from which cocaine is derived – in producer countries has increased, as well as the quantity and quality of the harvest.

Almost 90 percent of cocaine is destined for the United States and Europe, placing Costa Rica directly between producer countries in South America and narco-traffickers’ largest target market, the U.S., to the north.