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Costa Rican police operatives have arrested the country’s most wanted suspected drug trafficker, Alejandro Arias Monge, widely known as “El Diablo,” following a major security operation that left one suspected criminal dead and eight police officers injured.
Attorney General Carlos Diaz said the raid took place on Friday morning in Rio Frio, Heredia province, where law enforcement officers targeted what they believed was a gathering of leaders of criminal organisations.
Arias Monge, who had been on the run for about a decade, was taken into custody during the operation. The United States had offered a $500,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
According to Diaz, another suspected criminal leader, Roney Rios, was killed during the exchange of gunfire.
The attorney general said approximately 2,500 rounds of ammunition were fired during the operation, while eight police officers sustained injuries.
Following the arrest, the U.S. Embassy in San Jose congratulated the Costa Rican government and security agencies on what it described as a successful operation.
Authorities believe Arias Monge spent part of the past decade hiding in neighbouring Nicaragua while evading capture.
The arrest comes as Costa Rica continues to battle a sharp rise in drug trafficking and organised crime. Once regarded as one of Central America’s safest countries, the nation has experienced increasing violence in recent years as international drug cartels expand their operations and use its territory as a transit route for cocaine bound for North America and Europe.
