The Financial Control Police (PCF) of the Costa Rica Treasury (Ministerio de Hacienda) carried out an important operation today in which they seized over 20 million cigarettes valued in one million dollars, they also confiscated cash and weapons. This action had the support of the National Security and Intelligence Office and it is part of a joint investigation both offices had been working on for several months.

The operation was done in five different spots in the metropolitan area, four warehouses located in Tres Ríos, Salitrillos, San Rafael Arriba de Desamparados and Cristo Rey, and a house in residential area of Lomas de Ayarco in Curridabat, which is owned by the assumed leader of the criminal operation, a man by the last name of Navarro, who was detained.

Navarro had worked in the past as a police officer. At the moment of his arrest he had close to four thousand dollars in cash, a fire arm with no documentation, a truck, and cigarettes valued in 50 thousand dollars.

The cigarettes come from China and entered the country through Paso Canoas in the Panama frontier.

“This operation is a result of the intelligence work done by the PCF in conjunction with other police forces, with the purpose of breaking up big trafficking organizations that operate in the country, not just with liquor and cigarettes but also with other goods like medicines that could present a threat to the health of the Costa Rican population”, explained Irving Malespín, director of the PCF.

Along with the cigarettes they also confiscated 18 thousand tooth pastes that were also smuggled into the country