British and Costa Rican intelligence authorities have detained suspects for two drug cases involving cocaine and marijuana in pineapple shipments, Latina American media have reported.

Costa Rican newspaper La Nación reported that an English exporter from the company Oska Catering Liverpool was detained by Britain’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCD), with the help of information provided by Costa Rica’s Drug Control Police (PCD).

The exporter was detained in relation to a discovery of 106kg of cocaine found in a container in the Dutch port of Rotterdam, which was headed for England as its final destination, according to Costa Rica’s National Anti-drugs Commissioner Mauricio Boraschi.

The story reported that the English suspect had met with two Romanian contacts in Pital de San Carlos on various occasions, one of whom was detained in England.

The PCD told La Nación that the group had made at least eight pineapple exports before making shipments of cocaine, helping it to study the movements of customs officials in the port of Moín in Límon.

The case for the drug bust began in October when British authorities solicited help from their Costa Rican counterparts to track the organisation.

The news came amid reports from news website Prensa Latina that said the PCD had dismantled Costa Rica’s biggest marijuana trafficking organisation, confiscating around US$38 million worth of marijuana.

At a news conference Boraschi said seven suspects were detained – five Jamaicans and two Costa Ricans - in relation to the drugs, which were intended for local consumers and shipment to the Netherlands and England.

Costa Rica’s pineapple drug bust came to light just two weeks after 162kg of cocaine hidden in Ecuadorian bananas were intercepted in Spain, according to AFP.

The Spanish National Police told AFP that four people were detained in relation to the cocaine, including that group’s leader, who is alleged to have prepared the drugs in the Colombian jungle.

In June, 2010, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced 28.6kg of cocaine from Colombia, Costa Rica and Honduras had been intercepted on the ship MV Dole Chile, which was carrying bananas.

Related story: http://www.portalfruticola.com/2010/06/16/encuentran-cocaina-en-cargamento-en-puerto-de-wilmington/

Source: www.freshfruitportal.com