A leader of a drug cartel was arrested in Great Britain after his wife had shared luxury holiday snapshots in the sight of detectives.
Luis Manuel Picado Grijalbo was arrested on December 29 by agents of the National Crime Agency near London Bridge based on an international arrest warrant, wanted By the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) accusation of exporting cocaine from Costa Rica.
The country is startled by widespread violence between warring cartels, but rarely allows the extradition of criminals. Investigators had to wait until the 43-year-old traveled abroad.
Coincidentally, his glamorous wife Estefania McDonald Rodriguez, 32, sent photos of her travels to her 21,000 followers on Instagram.
She did not realize that American agents followed every post, waiting for an order to be issued so that they could strike. The Instagram account has since been removed.
On Facebook she posted photos of herself at the Trevifonteins in Rome, with the photos as subtitles: “A trip is polite three times: if we dream about it, when we experience it when we remember it.”
But she would probably prefer to forget a trip to London to herald the new year.
Estefania McDonald Rodriguez and her husband Luis Manuel Picado Grijalbo – on a photo from Paris who helped Grijalbo to trap because of alleged drugs

Rodriguez, 32, had posted glamorous photos of her various vacations on social media, leaving a trail that the authorities could follow

Grijalba, nicknamed ‘Shock’, was sought in the US on suspicion of international cocaine trade
Grijalba, nicknamed ‘Shock’, normally traveled separately from his wife, but the couple was in the capital for a journey of £ 16,000 who brought him from Costa Rican’s Juan Santamaría Airport to Paris and further to London.
DEA agents monitored every movement online thanks to the messages from Mrs. Rodriguez-and after an arrest warrant was issued, they asked NCA agents for help. According to the Costa Rican authorities, he was fascinated at an airport.
Randall Zúñiga, director of the Judicial Investigation Agency of Costa Rica (OIJ)-the FBI of the country-confirmed the arrest on his X account.
“The Costa Rican Luis Manuel Picado Grijalba, aka ‘Shock’, who has been gathered from Nicaragua, was arrested in collaboration with the Dea at London airport,” he wrote.
“His extradition to the US is requested on the basis of accusations of international drug trafficking from Limón.”
The Grijalba, which also has the Costa Rican nationality from Nicaragua, had also not been published in court due to a shooting with massive fatalities in his ownership in Matama, in the province of Límon in March 2022.
Grijalba was one of the targets of the attack on his property, in which seven people died, including Danny Hernandez Fernández, known as the ‘Ratón’.
According to Central American media, he threw himself behind a cherry tree behind a hut on his country to escape a bullet rain.
Prosecutors sent him three summons, but could not force them and eventually excluded him as a witness.
American DEA agents could also not strike in Costa Rica because of the constitutionally protected extradition rules, but had been on the heels for several years.

Mrs. Rodriguez regularly posted glamorous photos of himself online – in the sight of agents who did research into her husband

The glamorous photos of Mrs. Rodriguez attracted sights from all over the world – watched by agents who waited to jump her husband


The Instagram -friendly photos of Mrs. Rodriguez told about travel around the world – from Japan to Europe

Randall Zúñiga, director of the Judicial Investigation Agency of Costa Rica (OIJ) – the FBI of the country – confirmed the arrest on X and stated that Grijalba was fascinated at an airport

Mrs. Rodriguez probably lives in the province of Límon – an area where Grijalba would have run a drug trafficking empire
The Project for reporting organized crime and corruption says that the country’s constitution protects its citizens against prosecution for crimes committed outside of Costa Rican territory, as long as they return home safely.
That is what the Costa Rican attorney-general Carlo Díaz SunWho first reported the story: ‘This is an important arrest for us, because we could not have attributed him a criminal offense in our country.
‘But I repeat: in some studies he has been associated with drug trafficking in Limón.
“The DEA is not only satisfied that this person is a criminal punishment, but also tries to take all his possessions and we will work with them.”
The province of Límon, where Grijalba was active, has had to deal with a huge increase in bend -related violence in recent years. The most important city of Límon has a port that is thought to be a hotspot for drug trafficking.
In 2023, 214 murders were registered in the city – more than in the capital San José, despite the fact that according to a research platform it is a third of the size. Insight Crime.
The drug lord itself reportedly survived two murder attempts.
An NCA spokesperson said: ‘Luis Picado Grijalba, 43, was arrested on December 29 in the London Bridge area and taken in pre-trial detention.
“Exposing procedure is running.”
The Kingpin is expected to return to court next month to challenge the extradition procedure.
(Tagstotranslate) DailyMail