A businessman named Jiménez Guzmán is the alleged leader of a gang that extracts fuel from the refinery of the Costa Rican Petroleum Refinery (RECOPE), whose economic losses amount to $2 to $3 million.
Jiménez was arrested on Thursday at his home in Mercedes Norte de Puriscal. According to the investigation conducted by the Public Ministry, the businessman sold the stolen fuel in a service station of his property located in San Francisco de Heredia.
Another five subjects were arrested along with the businessman, including a man named Parra Zumbado, who is the administrator of the gas station. The actions were carried out after an alert issued by the Directorate of Intelligence and National Security (DIS) months ago. RECOPE officials and the Public Services Regulatory Authority (ARESEP) participated in the operation.
Apparently, the structure had two illegal connections to the pipeline in a street parallel to route 27, between San José and Caldera de Puntarenas.
The other four subjects (Cruz Osorio, Gómez Rojas, Bermúdez Chaves, and Solís Morales) were in charge of extracting the fuel and transporting it to the gas station.