Opposition to new lottery
cites money laundering


Anti-drug officials are concerned that the electronic lottery run by the Junta de Protección Social has become a vehicle for money laundering.

The key point seems to be that individuals can play the lottery without providing their name.

There also have been some suspicious bets. For example, one individual placed 30,000 colon bets on all numbers from 00 to 99. Of course, that is a losing bet. The individual had to pay 3 million colons to win 2.1 million. The lottery pays 70 times the bet to winners.

However, the Asociación Nacional de Empleados Públicos y Privados, which opposes the electronic lottery said that this loss is a small price to pay to launder money.

The Instituto Costarricense sobre Drogas has been expressing its concern for several months. Officials there have cited payments of large bets to a single individual. They also said that money laundering operations were prepared to lose 50 percent of their money in order to show that the remainder comes from a legitimate source.

The institute is seeking that those who play the lottery present a valid identification in order to do so. The Junta has hired a firm to run the lottery. The idea is to have remote locations where bettors can lay down the money easily.

This does not sit well with the Asociación Nacional de Empleados Públicos y Privados, which represents employees in the lottery agency. The union organization wants the junta to terminate the contract it has with GTECH Corp. That firm has operations all over the world.

Although the electronic lottery is the focus now, there are no identifications required to purchase lottery tickets on the street. A much greater investment is required there to insure a win.


Robbery victim shoots man
in fatal phone theft case


A 24-year-old man has died after being shot in the head at a store in downtown San José, according to the Judicial Investigating Organization. Identified by the last name of Córdoba, the man had tried to take a cell phone from a man who later became the suspect before he was shot around 2 a.m. early Monday morning.

Witnesses said that Córdoba entered the store to ask for help before collapsing. By the time medical aid came from the Cruz Roja, the young man was already dead.

Agents from the Sección de Investigaciones de Turno Extraordinario are seeking further details. The suspect, the presumed victim of the robbery, was detained at the scene of the crime. He has since been taken to the Ministerio Público. The victim's body was transferred to Morgue Judicial for an autopsy.


Canadian ship has its first
encounter with smugglers


A Canadian warship, the ""HMCS Glace Bay" recovered 97 bales, about 2,400 kilos, of cocaine from the Caribbean after the crew stopped a suspicious fishing boat.

The Canadian ship carried a  U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement detachment, which searched the ship without results. But then the ship burst into flames and the coastguard detachment removed the six crew members, said the Canadian National Defence.

After the ship sunk, the cocaine was seen floating in the water, the crew reported. The Canadians are supporting Operation Martillo, a multinational, joint, combined, and interagency effort by the nations of the Western Hemisphere and Europe to prevent illicit trafficking in the Caribbean basin, the eastern Pacific Ocean and the littoral waters of Central America.

The exact location of the confiscation was not given, but the report said it was in the western Caribbean.


DNA law will track cows
to help solve rustling cases


Ownership of cows stripped of any identity tags is difficult. But rustlers now have to contend with a new lab that can determine the DNA of the animals.

The Servicio Nacional de Salud Animal inaugurated the lab Monday in Lagunilla de Heredia.  The Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería and the Judicial Investigating Organization see the lab as a new tool in fighting cattle thefts.

Such crimes are rampant in rural areas. Although some cows are killed for the meat, large numbers of cows can be taken away in the night by an organized group of thieves. DNA can be compared to samples kept by a breeder or they can show the cow's ancestry.


Obama administration seeks
tighter controls on NSA


U.S. news outlets have reported that the Obama administration will propose new legislation that will ban the National Security Agency from the collection and storing of massive amounts of Americans' phone records.

Under the proposal, the government will have to obtain permission from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to obtain data from phone companies on calls connected to suspected terrorists. The phone companies will be required to provide the NSA with updated information if any new phone calls are made to or from that number.

Phone companies would not be required to maintain the phone call records for any longer than they do now.

President Barack Obama launched a review of the NSA's phone surveillance program after former contractor Edward Snowden leaked details of the program to the British newspaper The Guardian last year, setting off a political firestorm over civil liberties. Obama ordered his administration to craft a new policy by this Friday, when the current authorization for the program expires.

Legislation similar to Obama's proposal will be introduced Tuesday in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill, crafted by the Republican chairman and ranking Democrat of the House Intelligence Committee, also bars the NSA from the bulk collection of phone records, but does not require the government to obtain a court order before it asks phone companies for the data.