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Former Costa Rica Police Charged with Murder, Now Extradited

A former police officer from Costa Rica wanted for murdering a robbery suspect was nabbed in Newark this week and extradited this weekend, according to U.S. immigration officials and news accounts.

Carlos Alberto Fernandez-Mena, 40, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers as he left his apartment in Newark on Wednesday.

The Costa Rican resident entered the United States in February 2004 and overstayed a travel visa, authorities said. U.S. officials began an investigation into the fugitive's whereabouts after the International Police Agency alerted them that Fernandez-Mena fled Costa Rica to avoid prosecution and was believed to be living in the Newark area.

Using surveillance, members of the ICE Newark Fugitive Operations Team discovered Fernandez-Mena was living on Bloomfield Avenue in Newark and had been working as a mechanic at various garages. He was escorted to Costa Rica by officers from the Newark Office of Detention and Removal Operations.

According to Costa Rican news reports, Fernandez-Mena faces 18 years in prison for the Oct. 25, 2002 shooting of an unarmed suspect fleeing in a car in Tres Rios.

"The case is yet another example of the close cooperation between foreign authorities, INTERPOL and ICE in order to locate and apprehend a dangerous individual attempting to dodge justice," said Scott Weber, field office director for the ICE office of detention and removal in Newark.

In the past several years, ICE has arrested nine other dangerous international fugitives in New Jersey.

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