Alleged Costa Rican drug kingpin arrested in London after DEA monitors glamorous wife's luxury holiday social media posts

An international manhunt for a suspected drug cartel kingpin dramatically ended when he was arrested soon after flying into London to celebrate the New Year after he was traced by monitoring of his wife's social media travel posts.

Luis Picado Grijalba, who is alleged to be a key figure in a drug production and smuggling cartel and has survived two assassination bids, was wanted by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to face charges of importing cocaine into the US from Costa Rica.

The 43-year-old, also known as 'Shock' in Costa Rica, was arrested by the National Crime Agency's extradition unit in the London Bridge area on Sunday, December 29, after DEA officers had been monitoring globetrotting social media postings by his glamorous wife for several months.

According to reports in the Costa Rican press Grijalba, who has dual Nicaraguan and Costa Rican citizenship, had spent US$20,000 (£16,000) on airfares for his family to travel to Europe over the festive period.

But, his movements were being monitored by the DEA which is understood to have alerted British counterparts to his planned arrival in the UK ahead of New Year's Eve.

Official migratory reports for the pair, seen by Essex News and Investigations, show they both left Costa Rica on December 22, a week before his arrest.

According to the documents she has yet to return to the country.

According to a report on the Teletica website, the DEA was monitoring social media postings his glamourous 32-year-old wife, who made of visits to Paris and other destinations, which included images of her posing in designer clothes outside tourist attractions.

One shot showed 'Shock' and his wife outside the Eiffel Tower in Paris, during a four day-visit to the French capital, before they moved on to London.

An NCA spokesman said: "Luis Picado Grijalba, 43, was arrested in the London Bridge area on 29 December 2024 by specialist National Extradition Unit officers from the NCA’s Joint International Crime Centre (JICC).

"He is wanted by US authorities in connection to drug trafficking offences, and was remanded into custody after appearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 30 December 2024. Extradition proceedings are ongoing."

Randall Zúñiga, head of Costs Rica's Judicial Investigation Agency, told Costa Rican media: "The DEA had been following him for several months and were waiting for the international arrest warrant to be ready so they could arrest him.

"They informed us of the arrest, but it was their job, it is an international job, there was no open case in (Cost Rica) for which he could be arrested.

"His wife travelled out of the country a lot and posted about it on social media. They went to Colombia and Europe a lot. She uploaded lots of photos and videos from those trips.

"This last trip was a vacation trip... they made a stopover in Paris, then they went to London and had other destinations, but the arrest was made there."

The DEA had to strike while he was out of Costa Rica, as its constitution will not generally allow the extradition of its own citizens.

Following his arrest, Grijalba was taken to Westminster Magistrates' Court for an initial extradition hearing on December 30, when he was remanded in custody, before reappearing there on Monday<Jan62025>.

The court heard the international arrest warrant alleges that between 2013 and April 11 2024, he 'conspired to manufacture and distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine, intending, knowing, and having reasonable cause to believe that it will be unlawfully imported into the United States.'

Costa Rica, once a tourist paradise with unspoilt beaches and rainforests and low crime, popular with celebrities, has been turned by cocaine cartels into a battleground over the past decade - with murders, many connected to turf wars, soaring by around 60 per cent in ten years.

As a result, streaming giant Netflix is reported to have spent £1million on specialist security when Holly Willoughby and Bear Grylls filmed a new reality show in its jungles last year.

Celebrity Bear Hunt, which premiers next month<Feb2025>will see celebrity contestants face elimination if they are caught by survival expert Grylls once they are dropped deep in the jungle.

The Costa Rican province of Limón, where Grijalba is based, has been worst hit by the drug trade as the Central American country aids a supply route from Colombia into the US.

Grijalba has survived two previous assassination attempts allegedly carried out by rival drug gangs.

On March 2 2022 he survived an ambush in which seven other men were shot dead on a farm at Matama on the outskirts of Limón, after he hid from gunmen behind a cherry tree and a cabin.

At least four of the victims had homicide and drug trafficking convictions.

Grijalba was ordered to give witness evidence at the subsequent trial of four men but refused to attend court in Limón.

Despite this, one Costa Rican and three Venezuelan men were convicted of the murders in March 2024 and will serve the maximum penalty of 50 years in prison.

Nineteen months later, on October 3 2023, Grijalba survived another assassination bid when he was tailed in his car by gunmen in a vehicle, but the hit was foiled by state agents outside the office of the Comptroller General of the Republic of Costa Rica in capital city Costa Rica.

Shock has also been a target for the Costa Rican authorities, due to suspected involvement in drug trafficking and organised crime, for several years, but the country has yet to lay any charges of its own against him.

Carlo Díaz, Costa Rican Attorney General, said: "For us it is also an important capture, 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 for what corresponds with respect to the assets that are the product of illicit activities."

Grijalba is contesting extradition from the UK to the US and the case was adjourned until next month for a further interim hearing.

Bail was refused and he was again remanded into custody with the court recording that this was because he was otherwise 'likely to abscond' due to the 'nature and seriousness of the offence.'

A DEA spokesman said it would not comment on an ongoing investigation.