A total of 100, 935 packages of drugs have been seized by the security forces in the first 10 months of the year, a record figure for the last 20 years, assured the Minister of Public Security, Juan Manuel Pino.
He indicated that for the second year in a row it has managed to exceed 100 tons of drugs. “To date, compared to last year, there are 4,800 tons of illicit substances. Last year we culminated with more than 128 tons of drugs, achieving historical figures in terms of seizures of illicit substances, being the provinces of Colón (33,627), Panama (19,996) and Chiriquí with 4,642”, detailed the minister.
Through the Istmo operation, in less than 24 hours, the National Aeronaval Service has seized more than 2,800 packages of drugs.
“The first seizure took place on October 20 in the Guna Yala region, where 272 packages of illicit substances were seized. In the early hours of today, Friday, 500 packages were seized at a port terminal in the province of Colón and hours later the South of Jicarón Island, Veraguas province, the seizure of 1,809 drugs,” Pino said.
The National Border Service, through the Wana Jumarada operation, also seized during the early hours of Friday, October 21, 578 packages of suspected drugs in the Casa Vieja sector, Darién province, where two Colombians were captured and a boat was seized. fast.
In more than 390 anti-drug operations, the Security Establishments have apprehended 520 people linked to these drug trafficking cases, 354 Panamanians and 166 foreigners.
More than 20 units of the Panamanian security forces completed the “International Basic Course on Maritime Interdiction”, sponsored by the Government of the United States of America, where they were trained by instructors from the Colombian Navy Coast Guard, for the execution of maritime interdiction operations and in operational and tactical aspects in the fight against drug trafficking and transnational organized crime.
