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Crew abandons fastboat loaded with 700 kilos of cocaine

Yet anther load of cocaine has fallen into the hands of law enforcement. The security ministry said that its officers managed to capture a boat loaded with 700 kilos (1,540 pouns) of the drug after a chase Tuesday.

That brings to 88 tons the amount of cocaine seized by police during the Arias administration, according to the ministry’s accounting.

According to the Ministerio de Gobernación, Policía y Seguridad Pública, the chase began along the Pacific coast when an aircraft of the Servicio Vigilancia Aérea spotted the fastboat and gave chase. Eventually the three-person crew headed the boat to shore, jumped out and began to swim to some mangroves.

The Servicio Nacional de Guardacostas at the Quepos station and the Policía de Control de Drogas came on the scene and began to investigate the boat. They found the drugs hidden in the 33-foot craft, they said.

The crew bailed out of the boat near Pueblo Real de Damas in the Cantón de Aguirre. That was about 8:30 a.m. Police set up roadblocks in an effort to find the fleeing suspects.

The crew must have recently refilled fuel containers on the craft, the Santa Patricia. There were 14 20-liter fuel containers and only one was empty. The three 75-horsepower outboards on the boat requires a lot of fuel.