Costa Rica to deport four IS suspects to Egypt, Iraq

Costa Rica said it will deport four suspected members of the Islamic State group after they were arrested in neighbouring Nicaragua and handed over to authorities in San Jose.

The four men, two from Egypt and two from Iraq, were arrested by Nicaraguan soldiers on Tuesday morning near the Costa Rican border.

Mexico's president on Tuesday confirmed authorities were searching for three suspected IS members thought to have travelled through Panama and Costa Rica.

The men had entered Nicaragua using an unauthorised crossing point known as La Guasimada, authorities in Managua said.

The four were "allegedly linked to the terrorist organisation ISIS," a Nicaraguan police statement said, using an alternative acronym for the militant group, and were handed back to Costa Rica the same day.

A police statement named the men as Mohamed Ibrahim, 33 and Mahmoud Samy Eissa, 26 - both from Egypt - and Iraqi nationals Ahmed Ghanim Mohamed Al Jubury, 41 and Mustafa Ali Mohamed Yaoob, 29.

	Three of the suspects named by Mexican police [Twitter]

Costa Rica's migratory directorate said the four would be sent back to their countries of origin once their investigations had been concluded.

The men had entered Costa Rica from Panama on June 9 under an immigration control agreement that allows 100 people to enter the country daily.

Stephen Madden, Costa Rica's immigration police chief, told reporters that biometric checks of the men made by immigration authorities in both Panama and Costa Rica did not turn up anything suspicious about the men.

He said the group had aroused suspicion only when they crossed into Nicaragua on June 25th.