US Drug Lord Arrested In UK After Wife's IG Posts Reveal His Location To Her 21K Followers And DEA Agents

Detectives in the UK tracked down and arrested a notorious drug cartel ringleader after piecing together his location from his wife's extravagant vacation photos shared online.

Luis Manuel Picado Grijalbo, a Costa Rican drug lord, was apprehended by UK authorities near London Bridge on 29th December. His arrest followed an international warrant issued by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), accusing him of exporting cocaine from Costa Rica.

The Instagram Tip-Off

Costa Rica has been plagued by intense cartel violence, but extradition of criminals is rarely allowed, forcing authorities to wait patiently for the 43-year-old to leave Costa Rica. To their advantage, his glamorous wife, Estefania McDonald Rodriguez, 32, frequently shared photos of their travels with her 21,000 Instagram followers before her account was removed.

Unaware that US agents were monitoring her social media closely, Rodriguez posted photos from Rome's Trevi Fountain, with a caption reading, "A trip is lived 3 times: When we dream it, When we live it, When we remember it." However, her New Year's Eve trip to London will likely be one she'll want to forget.

Grijalba, known as 'Shock,' usually travelled alone, but this time joined his wife on a £16,000 trip to London, flying from Juan Santamaría Airport in Costa Rica with a stopover in Paris, as reported by Costa Rican outlet Teletica. DEA agents, tracking their movements through Rodriguez's social media, obtained an arrest warrant, and, working with NCA officers, successfully apprehended Grijalba at an airport.

A Drug Lord Brought To Justice

The arrest was confirmed by Randall Zúñiga, director of the OIJ, Costa Rica's equivalent of the FBI, via his X account. 'Nicaraguan naturalised Costa Rican Luis Manuel Picado Grijalba, alias "Shock", was arrested at London airport in a joint effort with the DEA,' Zúñiga wrote.

'His extradition to the US is sought to face charges of international drug trafficking originating from Limón,' he added. Grijalba, a Nicaraguan national who also holds Costa Rican citizenship, had failed to appear in court for a deadly shootout that occurred at his property in Matama, Limón province, in March 2022.

Grijalba himself was a target of the attack on his property, which resulted in the deaths of seven people, including Danny Hernandez Fernández, known as 'Ratón.' According to Central American media, he managed to escape a hail of bullets by taking cover behind a cherry tree near a cabin on his land.

The Limits Of Extradition

Prosecutors issued three subpoenas to Grijalba but could not compel his appearance in court. He was ultimately dismissed as a witness. US DEA agents, who had been investigating him for years, were also held back by Costa Rica's constitutional prohibition against extraditing its own citizens.

The Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) reports that Costa Rican law shields its citizens from prosecution for offences committed outside the country, provided they return home.

In an interview with The Sun, which first reported the story, Costa Rican Attorney General Carlo Díaz, said: '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,' Diaz noted.

Costa Rica's Struggle With Cartel Violence

Límon province, where Grijalba operated, has experienced a significant increase in gang-related violence in recent years. The province's central city, also named Limón, is home to a major port that is widely believed to be a hub for drug trafficking activities.

In 2023, Limón province recorded 214 homicides, exceeding the number in the capital, San José, despite having a significantly smaller population, according to the investigative platform Insight Crime. Grijalba himself has reportedly survived two assassination attempts.

An NCA spokesperson stated, 'Luis Picado Grijalba, 43, was arrested in the London Bridge area on 29th December and remanded into custody. Extradition proceedings are ongoing.' The kingpin will appear in court next month to fight his extradition.