The Public Ministry, hearing of Guarantees through the First Superior Prosecutor’s Office against Organized Crime, managed to formulate charges for crimes against humanity in the form of aggravated smuggling of migrants; as well as the legalizations of the exceptional search procedure and the apprehensions of 15 people, including 6 officials of the National Immigration Service.
In the Guarantees hearing, the provisional detention of 10 people was decreed and another 5 were applied different precautionary measures, the latter being appealed by the Prosecutor’s Office. This appeal hearing was scheduled for January 3, 2023.
This investigation focuses on a criminal group that coordinated the irregular entry of migrants of mostly Hindu origin, through the Tocumen airport, in consultation with collaborators of an airline that operates in the air terminal, officials of the National Service of Migration (SNM) and individuals who, after having left the airport, managed private transportation to the hotels where they were staying and the next day were taken to the Albrook terminal to go to the Panama-Costa Rica border where they crossed irregularly.
On Tuesday, December 13, 2022, the First Specialized Prosecutor’s Office against Organized Crime of Panama and the Deputy Prosecutor’s Office against Human Trafficking and Smuggling of the Republic of Costa Rica, through a Binational action, in conjunction with the Judicial Investigation Directorate ( DIJ), the National Police, carried out different procedures in the provinces of Panama and West Panama, achieving the apprehension of these people.
