Police have broken up what they believe to be a central operations base for drug traffickers moving their cargo through Costa Rica. Several operations led to the discovery of an alleged central hub in Portalón, near the central Pacific city of Quepos, yesterday, according to a statement from the Public Security Ministry.

This supposed “operations base” has several tents, storing 150 quarts of oil as well as 600 gallons of gasoline, hidden in a mangrove area. Officers aboard a small police plane observed the tents from overhead, and their co-workers on the ground raided the site, seizing two boats they believe were used by drug traffickers to deliver gasoline to drug-carrying ships at high sea making their way to North America.

Police continue to search the area using drug-sniffing dogs and are searching for two additional suspicious boats area residents reported seeing in the waters.

-Tico Times