A wanted drugs cartel chief was trapped in London after his wife’s social media posts about their luxury holidays gave away his location.
Luis Grijalba, wanted in the United States on charges of exporting cocaine from Costa Rica, was arrested by British police after a tip-off from their American counterparts, who had been monitoring photographs of their travels posted by Estefania McDonald Rodriguez, his wife.
Officers from the National Crime Agency detained Grijalba, 43, near London Bridge after the couple arrived in London on a £16,000 holiday to celebrate the New Year.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had been able to follow Grijalba’s movements through posts from Ms Rodriguez that included snaps of the couple posing in front of the Eiffel Tower.
She had also posted pictures of herself in front of Rome’s Trevi Fountain, in a gondola in Venice, and crossing a river in Japan.
Other photographs showed Ms Rodriguez posing with parrots on a beach, and outside luxury hotels.
Ms Rodriguez, who works as a supervisor at a beauty salon in the port city of Limón, on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast, captioned her Rome photograph: “A trip is lived 3 times: When we dream it, When we live it, When we remember it.”
Her Instagram account, which had 21,000 followers, has since been deleted, though her Facebook account – where many of the photographs were posted – remains open.
Randall Zúñiga, of Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency, said that Grijalba’s wife appeared to be a lot less cautious than him in hiding their movements.
“His wife travelled out of the country a lot and posted about it on social media,” he said. “They went to Colombia and Europe a lot. They had recorded several trips. She uploaded a lot of photos.”
Grijalba appeared before Westminster magistrates’ court the day after his arrest and is contesting extradition to the US, where he can expect a lengthy jail sentence if convicted. The case was adjourned until next month.
A NCA spokesman told The Telegraph: “Luis Picado Grijalba, 43, was arrested in the London Bridge area on Dec 29 2024 by specialist National Extradition Unit officers from the NCA’s Joint International Crime Centre.
An ‘important capture’
“He is wanted by US authorities in connection to drug trafficking offences, and was remanded into custody after appearing at Westminster magistrates’ court on Dec 30 2024. Extradition proceedings are ongoing.”
Grijalba has survived two assassination attempts in Costa Rica, including one in which he hid behind a cherry tree while seven members of his gang were gunned down.
Carlo Díaz, the attorney general of Costa Rica, told The Sun: “This is an important capture for us, because we had not yet been able to attribute any criminal act to him in our country.
“But I reiterate, he has been linked in some investigations to drug trafficking in Limón.
“The DEA is not only satisfied with this person serving a criminal sentence, but they also seek to take away all his assets, and we are going to collaborate with them.”
Limón province has seen a huge surge in gang-related violence in recent years, much of it related to the traffic of drugs passing through Limón city’s port.
