Treasury Sanctions One of the Caribbean’s Largest Narcotics Traffickers and His Network

OFAC Continues to Target Costa Rica-Based Cocaine Trafficking to the United StatesWASHINGTON — Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated five Costa Rican nationals and five Costa Rica-based entities for their involvement in narcotics trafficking and money laundering. A key global cocaine transshipment point, Costa Rica has become an increasingly significant waypoint for criminal organizations trafficking cocaine to the United States. The network designated today is responsible for transporting multi-ton quantities of cocaine from Colombia, storing the drugs in Costa Rica, and ultimately shipping them to the United States and Europe. Luis Manuel Picado Grijalba, the leader of this network, is one of the most prolific drug traffickers operating in the Caribbean. “The Trump Administration will not allow narcotraffickers to poison Americans,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.