by Rod Hughes
While it is wise to travel with a little extra cash, Costa Rican customs agents at Penas Blancas on the Nicaraguan border thought three Ticos in two semi-trailers were overdoing it.
Hidden in the trailers were an estimated $600,000 in bills.
Jailed on four months’ preventive detention were the two truck drivers and the owner of one of the vehicles. Police, who had only begun to count the money on Friday stopped for the weekend at $132,000 with a lot more to go. And the three men were also carrying Guatemalan, Nicaraguan and Honduran money plus a .38 caliber automatic with five extra clips of ammunition.
Most of the money was in smaller denominations, according to the newspaper Al Dia. The prosecutor in the northern town of Liberia placed the hefty detention order on the men, since Costa Rican law is severe about money laundering. If convicted, the trio faces from 8 to 20 years in prison.