Costa Rica, Panama arrest 46 for migrant trafficking

Authorities in Costa Rica and Panama have arrested 46 people in a joint operation to break up a criminal organization in their two countries that has been trafficking migrants from Haiti, Cuba, Africa and Asia.

Costa Rican authorities said they have carried out 36 simultaneous raids in communities near their southern border with Panama and their northern border with Nicaragua, in which they arrested a total of 36 suspects, including the apparent gang bosses on Tuesday.

Among those taken into custody were two women, who apparently led the operation on the border with Panama, another woman on the border with Nicaragua, reported Efe news.

According to Costa Rica's migration agency, Panama authorities made 21 raids in the Panamanian capital and the western province of Chiriqui, rounding up 10 suspects in the process.

"Taking part in Operation Adalid were two officials from the Attorney General's Office and more than 50 National Police agents. We now have 10 behind bars," Panamanian prosecutor David Mendoza said on Twitter.

Panamanian authorities disclosed that traffickers charged migrants as much as $1,500 to smuggle them across Panama.

Costa Rican authorities reported that investigations into this case kicked off in January 2018 when police were informed that a crime network trafficking foreigners was operating in the northern part of the country.

"The organization charged from $7,000 to $20,000, depending on the country of origin or the profile of the foreigner being trafficked," the migration agency said.

The investigation found that the gang was smuggling migrants from such countries as Haiti, Cuba, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Angola, Cameroon, Nepal, Angola and India.

The organization captured migrants in Panama and took charge of smuggling them across Costa Rica to put them on the road to the US.

The captives face up to 10 years in prison for the crime of people trafficking.

Central America is the starting point for tens of thousands of migrants from all over the world who, with the aid of organized crime, aim to reach the US, and who in recent years have caused a growing migratory crisis in this impoverished part of the world, from which thousands of local citizens also leave with the US as their destination.

( With inputs from IANS )