Tania Jazmín Ojeda Ávila was stopped at an airport and taken into custody after two stores were robbed.
She is the wife of professional footballer Fabián Castillo, who plays for Deportivo Cali in his native Colombia, on loan from Tijuana in Mexico.
A former FC Dallas and Trabzonspor player, the 32-year-old forward made three appearances for the Colombia national team in 2015.
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The police announced on Saturday (19 Oct) morning that Ojeda Ávila, originally from Culiacán, Mexico, had been taken into custody.
She was stopped at Bogotá Airport, Colombia, shortly after arriving on a commercial flight from Mexico.
She was subject to an Interpol Red Notice and is wanted by the Costa Rican authorities for robbery and criminal conspiracy.
The 27-year-old is believed to be part of a criminal gang from Mexico called Los Mazos.
She is accused of involvement in the simultaneous robbery of two jewellery stores on 31 October 2017 in San José, Costa Rica.
It is believed Ojeda Ávila flew to Colombia to be with her husband and had recently renewed her passport in a failed bid to evade arrest.
Col Edwin Masleider Urrego Pedraza, of Colombia’s Dijín agency, told how between 23 and 30 October 2017, members of Los Mazos flew from Mexico to San José in small groups.
He said: “They arrived on different days and at various times, and stayed in different hotels to avoid drawing the attention of the authorities.
“They selected two jewellery stores located in the Escazú district and then acquired vehicles, blunt instruments, and firearms.
“On the day of the heist, in two groups, the group entered the two jewellery stores in broad daylight, armed with weapons and hammers.
“They threatened employees and customers, broke the display cases, and seized various watches valued at over a million dollars.”
Ojeda Ávila’s alleged role was “to wait in a vehicle for those carrying out the robbery, then help them escape with the loot”.
She was also allegedly responsible for transporting and guarding the stolen jewellery until another member of the gang could smuggle it out of Costa Rica.
Afterwards, the group is believed to have split up and travelled to different countries to avoid detection, before regrouping in Mexico.
But authorities in San José conducted a thorough investigation that led to the capture of four members of the criminal organisation.
This also helped identify the other members, who live across the world in Canada, the US, Uruguay, and France, as reported by Need To Know.
Ojeda Ávila now awaits extradition to Costa Rica to face justice.
It has been compared to a heist like the one in the movie Ocean’s Eleven, by local media.
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