A cartel kingpin arrested in Britain after his glamorous wife’s holiday snaps gave away his location was involved in murders, torture and large-scale drug trafficking, a court heard.
Luis Grijalba, a 44-year-old Costa Rican, arrived in London on a £16,000 holiday to celebrate the New Year with his wife, Estefania McDonald Rodriguez, who is 11 years his junior.
US federal agents had been monitoring Ms Rodriguez’s Instagram and Facebook profiles and tipped off the National Crime Agency (NCA), who arrested Grijalba on December 29, 2024.
During the couple’s tour of Europe, she had posted photos of landmarks including Rome’s Trevi Fountain. The accompanying caption read: ‘A trip is lived three times: when we dream it, when we live it, when we remember it.’
Another picture showed Grijalba, known as Shock, and his wife in a cream fur-collared coat in front of the Eiffel Tower.
They then continued their jaunt to the UK, where more posts by Ms Rodriguez gave away their position.
Her lax social media use allowed US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents to track the couple’s movements from Costa Rica to Paris, Rome and London.
Luis Grijalba in front of the Eiffel Tower with his wife Estefania McDonald Rodriguez in a photo that helped US federal agents track him down
Rodriguez, 33, had plastered glamorous photos of her various holidays across social media – leaving a trail for the authorities to follow
Grijalba, nicknamed ‘Shock’, is wanted in the US on cocaine trafficking charges
NCA officers were waiting to pounce and arrested Grijalba near London Bridge where the couple were staying in a luxury hotel.
Yesterday, an extradition hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard he is wanted on two charges relating to the trafficking of 11lbs or more of cocaine. Each charge carries a prison sentence of between ten years and life.
The US believes Grijalba – who has been a ‘gym orderly’ while on remand at Wormwood Scrubs – is a key player in a gang that trafficked cocaine from South America to the US and has links to Colombian, Mexican and Panamanian cartels.
The court heard allegations he led a cartel that stored vast amounts of the drug for trafficking through Central America to the US via speed boats, submersibles, fishing vessels and aircraft.
A judgment recommended his extradition and sent the case to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood for final approval.
Issuing his decision, District Judge John McGarva summarised an affidavit made by assistant US attorney Christopher Rapp.
Judge McGarva wrote: ‘It is stated that between 2013 and 2024 the requested person (Luis) Picado Grijalba was a member and indeed leader of an international drug trafficking conspiracy focusing on cocaine transportation and distribution and was based in Limon Costa Rica.
‘Eventually he stepped in as leader and the criminal organisation received large scale cocaine shipments from Colombian and Panamanian drug traffickers.
Ms Rodriguez regularly posted online – in plain sight of officers investigating her husband
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‘The conspiracy used a sophisticated infrastructure to manufacture, acquire, store, transport and distribute cocaine.
‘This used speed boats, submersibles, fishing vessels, aircraft and other means to smuggle cocaine. The drugs were transported to and through central American countries including Costa Rica on their way northward.
‘After the requested person stored the shipments and then distributed them for onward distribution North to the United States.
‘The requested person also had links to Colombian and Mexican gangs, and he was involved in the distribution of large amounts of cocaine northward through Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico.
‘In turn Mexican based criminal organisations received cocaine for further distribution in the United States. The requested person has been involved in numerous acts of torture, violence and murders.’
Grijalba refused to leave Wormwood Scrubs to attend his extradition hearing this month, but Judge McGarva allowed the hearing to go ahead in his absence.
Judge McGarva added in his judgment: ‘(The US) will rely on evidence from four witnesses involved in the offending who are cooperating.
‘They will also adduce intercepted communications between the conspirators about international drug trafficking.
‘This evidence refers to activities in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras. It refers to substantial quantities of drugs – seven to eight tonnes.’
Ms Rodriguez’s social media use proved to be her husband’s downfall
Ms Rodriguez is believed to live in Costa Rica’s Limon province – where Grijalba is alleged to have based a drug trafficking empire
An indictment of the charges was issued on April 10, 2024, with the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issuing a warrant for his arrest the next day.
Lawyers for the alleged kingpin argued he should not be extradited because of concerns about prison conditions, noting that he would be held in a maximum security facility and may be sentenced to life without parole.
They also claimed that – if he was ever released – the Costa Rican national could be detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and deported to an unsafe country.
He has survived two assassination attempts in Costa Rica, including one in which he cowered behind a cherry tree while seven comrades were gunned down.
Judge McGarva said extradition to face trial for such serious offences was compatible with his human rights.
If Ms Mahmood agrees with the extradition, Grijalba could still appeal to the High Court.
