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CORRECTED STORY:
North American
Hiding Ingenious Marijuana Lab
in Tilarán
A North American was detained by
agents of the Organismo de Investigación
Judicial (OIJ) after they discovered a complete laboratory with 4.000
marijuana plants in luxury home
in the area known as Tronadora de Tilarán.
The discovery was made during a
fraud investigation against the Instituto Costarricense de
Electricidad (ICE) - the state telecommunications and electrical power
utility company.
OIJ agents from the Cañas
detachment and the Policía de Upala
raided the home located on 2
hectares of land in search of
evidence in the fraud
investigation when the found the
drug lab.
The home is located some 6
kilometres from the centre of
Tilarán in the Alajuela
province, minutes away from the
Lake Arenal and the tourist area
of Arenal and La Fortuna.
Officials found on the premises
modern and complex laboratory
equipment to produce high grade
marijuana.
The man's identity was not
disclosed by the authorities,
only saying that his was 60
years old and coming from
California and had been in the
illegal business in Costa Rica
for at least 2 years.
The man was not at home when
police raided the property, but
was later detained.
The OIJ investigation began
several months back when ICE
authorities saw that the man was
paying more than ¢700.000
colones (us$1.360 dollars)
monthly for electrical service,
then the billing abruptly
decreased to an average of
¢18.000 (us$35) monthly.
Concerned ICE officials
contacted the OIJ to investigate
a possible fraud being
perpetrated against the utility.
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