Five men must serve a nine-year and 10 months sentence in prison, after the Quepos and Parrita prosecutors proved they are guilty of committing the crime of drug trafficking.
The sentence was issued by the Criminal Court of the area on Monday afternoon.
They are the Costa Ricans Rafael Duarte Ramírez and the brothers Michael and Luis Romero Arauz, as well as José Hurtado Solís and Alberto Escobar Monroy, both Ecuadorians. They were arrested in March 2016, 26 nautical miles from Quepos when they were traveling on two boats called Kimby and Luna.
After the arrest, the National Coast Guard Service seized 700 kilograms of cocaine. The five subjects were sent to the Public Ministry.