The Court of Appeal of Goicoechea accepted the request of the Public Ministry to extend, for two more months, the preventive detention against Gilbert Bell Fernández, alias Macho Coca, for alleged fuel theft. In addition, it granted a maximum period for the Public Ministry to present an accusation.
This new extension It started running on April 11, as Bell’s lawyer, Manrique González, explained to this newspaper.
Bell has remained in preventive detention since October 2024 for the case called Petro Coca, in which, according to the Judicial Investigation Agency, he belonged to a group that would have obtained profits of between ¢300 million and ¢400 million per month through the theft of fuel from the Costa Rican Petroleum Refinery (Recope).
It is because of this case that the preventive detention measure against Bell has already been extended several times since he was apprehended.
The Costa Rican, in addition, faces an extradition process at the request of the Southern District Court of New York, in the United States, after an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) revealed that he would have headed a criminal structure dedicated to drug trafficking, which operated between March 2022 and August 2023.
The request was rejected in March by the Limón Criminal Courtunder the argument that it is not possible to hand over a Costa Rican for crimes that were committed before the constitutional reform that endorsed the extradition of nationals, which came into effect on May 28, 2025.
Although the Public Ministry appealed the refusal, the Limonense judge lifted the provisional arrest in this extradition case. This means that the deprivation of liberty at this time It only applies in the case of alleged fuel theft.
On April 7, when the Prosecutor’s Office requested to extend Bell’s preventive detention, his lawyer, Manrique González, offered to replace this measure with others, including the periodic signature, given that more than a year and a half had already passed since his client was detained.
“(The Court) warned the Public Ministry that within that period it must finish the investigation phase that has already been going on for more than a year and a half and told (the Public Ministry) that I had to have the accusation ready in that case”Gonzalez stated.
“They have been delayed for reasons attributable to the system and not to Don Gilbert Bell“He added. González indicated that he hopes that the accusation against his client will be presented within this period and the Public Ministry will comply with the Court’s request.
