Costa Rican police arrest 18 illegal Cuban migrants

The Costa Rican police arrested 18 illegal Cuban migrants on Saturday afternoon, the La Nacion daily reported Sunday.

The group of people were stopped when they were travelling on a bus through the town of Quepos, along the Pacific coast. They boarded in Paso Canoas, near the Panama border.

The migrants were taken to a local police station before being handed over to migratory authorities to be processed for deportation.

The Costa Rican government has announced a series of measures to contain the migration crisis, after seeing a large number of migrants from Cuba and various African countries enter the country from Panama, seeking to reach the United States.

Costa Rica has sent around 8,000 migrants to Mexico and the United States so far this year, but said it would no longer tolerate illegal entries and would detain and deport all those found without proper documents.

On Wednesday, some 1,200 Cuban and African migrants entered the Costa Rican territory violently, but most of them were taken under control by police and sent back to Panama.
Source: Xinhua