In the Costa Rican capital of San José, police raided what they said were known hang-outs for street thugs and criminals, rounding up at least 245 suspects last week, a statement from the Public Security Ministry said Friday.

The sweeping raids – combined efforts by migration officers and agents from the Transit Police and the Judicial Investigation Police – resulted in 69 arrests in the neighborhood of La Tabla de Desamparados, 85 in San Sebastián and 90 in the so-called “Tierras Dominicanas,” the police statement said.

Two vehicles were also impounded.

In San Sebastián, officers dismantled a toll system that, according to police, crime rings had set up to extort money from anyone passing through and to deter police from entering.

The arrests come a week after an unnerving report in the daily La Nación that cited 600 repeat criminal offenders at large in and around the Costa Rican capital.

-Tico Times