Costa Rica and Panama bust migrant-smuggling ring, arrest dozens

Costa Rican and Panamanian officials on Tuesday morning arrested nearly 50 people linked to an international network suspected of smuggling migrants through Central America and toward the United States. Deputy Director of Costa Rica's migration police said the criminal network charged between 7,000 and 20,000 USD to transport each migrant.

The ring moved individuals from various Asian and African countries, as well as from Cuba and Haiti. Panama said its crackdown involved 24 operatives from the prosecutor's office and over 50 federal police officers. The Panamanian attorney general's office said migrants were paying smugglers 1,500 USD and above to pass through Panama. According to a Costa Rican police report, there were two routes used by the network: one by land, and another by sea to Honduras, via the northern port of Puerto Soley. The report said migrants were then picked up by other organizations in Guatemala to cross into Mexico and as far as the southern border of the United States.