The authorities of Panama and Colombia dismantled a criminal group, allegedly linked to dissidents of the dissolved Colombian guerrilla of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), dedicated to drug trafficking, after the arrest of 20 people.
In a binational police operation, called “Pólux”, the National Aeronaval Service of Panama (Senan) arrested eight people, while in Colombia the Navy and the police of that country arrested twelve.
The anti-drug operation allowed the dismantling of “a criminal organization dedicated to the trafficking of illicit substances that used the Pacific coast for subsequent shipment to Central and North America,” the Public Ministry of Panama said in a statement.
The note indicates that the arrests occurred in the provinces of Panama, West Panama and Veraguas. However, it does not give details of the place of arrests in Colombia.
According to official information, those captured in Colombia, including the leader of the organization, presumably belong to the “30th front of the FARC dissidents.”
This group used semi-submersibles, with a capacity of up to 2.5 tons, to transport the drug with stops in Panama and Costa Rica, according to the statement.
The attorney general in charge of Panama, Javier Caraballo, stated that the investigation began in August 2019, when the authorities discovered that a group of Colombians and Panamanians, including a Senan agent, were dedicated “to providing information” about the areas patrol so drug traffickers could evade police checkpoints.
