Q COSTARICA — Celso Gamboa was appointed magistrate in February 2016. A year later, U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) authorities were able to determine that the former Minister of Security, former Deputy Chief of Staff, and former Director of the DIS, was involved in the manufacture and distribution of cocaine.
This is stated in the formal indictment against Gamboa, according to La Nación, citing the accusation filed by a Texas court.
“On multiple dates during or around 2017, and continuously since then until the date of this formal indictment, Gamboa Sánchez complicitly and knowingly and intentionally manufactured and distributed five or more kilograms of a mixture and substance with a detectable cocaine content,” the indictment states.
On Thursday, under strict security, Gamboa was taken to court to review official documents for his extradition. During the court appearance, officials from the DEA participated in the activity.
Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department announced it had placed the former Costa Rican judge on the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) list, resulting in the freezing of Gamboa’s assets, including properties, bank accounts, and vehicles in the United States.
The sanction also applies to Alejandro James Wilson, alias “Turesky”; Edwin López Vega, alias “Pecho Rata”; and Alejandro Arias Monge, alias “Diablo”, Costa Rica’s most wanted fugitive, for whom the United States has placed a US$500,000 bounty for information leading to an arrest and/or conviction.
Similarly, the law firm Celso Gamboa & Asociados and the Limón Black Star FC soccer club were also designated and barred from conducting transactions with the U.S. financial system.
The U.S. Treasury Department also claims that Gamboa used an “extensive network of contacts within the government” to obtain information on anti-drug investigations, which he then sold to the targets of those same investigations.
“Gamboa was a major drug trafficker in Costa Rica who facilitated the shipment of tens of millions of dollars’ worth of cocaine from Colombia, through Costa Rica, to the United States and Europe.
“As Costa Rica’s former Deputy Minister of Public Security, Gamboa used his extensive network of contacts within the government to obtain information on ongoing counternarcotics investigations. He subsequently sold this information to the targets of those same investigations,” the report states.
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