The three men were subject to a short trial after pleading guilty to the charges against them, the Public Ministry stated in a press release on Friday.
Costa Rican investigators said the men built up the trafficking organization by sending shipments of cocaine in containers of pineapple, yuca, and other produce exports shipped on boats to numerous countries
The four men arrested — three Nicaraguans and a Costa Rican — did not have criminal records. If convicted, they would face up to 20 years in prison.
One day after a drug plane crashed off the Osa Peninsula, authorities reported the discovery of dozens of illegal airstrips all along Costa Rica's Pacific coast.
Two people are dead after a small aircraft loaded with cocaine crashed Thursday in northwestern Costa Rica, near the Pacific coastal village of Nosara, the country's Public Security Ministry reported on Friday.
Former judge Rosa Elena Gamboa was arrested two years ago on suspicion that she influenced at least two cases involving alleged drug traffickers in 2011 and 2012.