Leader Luis Manuel Picado Grijalba arrested in the U.K. and held pending U.S. extradition

The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated five Costa Rican individuals and five Costa Rica–based entities under Executive Order 14059 for involvement in cocaine trafficking and money laundering. The action targets a network led by Luis Manuel “Shock” Picado Grijalba and his brother Jordie Kevin “Noni” Picado Grijalba, who are accused of importing, storing, and shipping multi-ton quantities of cocaine from Colombia through Costa Rica to the United States and Europe. The designations follow a coordinated Homeland Security Task Force and Costa Rican law enforcement investigation, and they block U.S. property interests of the listed parties and prohibit most U.S. transactions with them. Several arrests and a large seizure in Costa Rica — including Shock’s arrest in the U.K. and Noni’s arrest in Costa Rica — are cited as part of enforcement actions.