The Attorney General’s Office, through the First Superior Prosecutor’s Office Specialized in Drug-Related Crimes, struck an effective blow by dismantling an organization dedicated to drug trafficking through Operation Jericho, in which, in association with the National Police, 31 people were arrested (so far) dedicated to the commission of meetings and conspiracy to commit crimes related to drugs and money laundering to the detriment of the financial system of the Panamanian State and society in general.
The operations were carried out jointly with the National Police in the provinces of Panama, West Panama, Colon, Chiriqui, Darien, Cocle and Los Santos.
The Jericó investigation began on June 30, 2024, when the existence of a criminal group was made known, which was dedicated to drug trafficking using as its main mode of operation the reception of drugs through artisanal fishing vessels and speedboats from Colombia, reaching reception points in the Kuna Yala Region, Darién and Panama, after sending the drugs through jungle trails in order to be transported to the border with Costa Rica, by land.
The criminal group also operates by sending and receiving money, as well as by placing, integrating and stratifying it through companies and businesses that are not in line with economic reality. They maintain a financial backing that allows them to operate and cover all the logistics involved in the transfer of illicit substances.
To date, it has been possible to determine that this criminal group coordinates all the logistics for the illicit activity, telephone communications and personal meetings to organize drug movements in the country and the money, the product of these drug trafficking activities.
During the investigation of Operation Jericho, more than one ton of illicit substances and more than B/.300,000 have been seized. The group is made up of national and foreign people from countries such as Colombia and Mexico.
This criminal group aims to create different front companies that provide economic sustainability to guarantee the operations of the illicit drug trafficking business, most of which do not have any physical address. They present notices of operation, rotate within the positions of the board of directors in order to create companies, purchase goods, apartments, vehicles, residences, create corporations to facilitate and simulate the crime, using a body shop, cleaning companies that are used to make bodywork alterations to the different vehicles they use to transport illicit substances to the border with Costa Rica.
During the course of the operational proceedings, cash, high-end vehicles and firearms were seized.
