Detention for criminal lawyer linked to drug gang

After a 12-hour hearing that ended at 3 am on Saturday criminal lawyer Nicel Solano a former assistant to a Supreme Court judge,   and a man were ordered provisional detention charged with organized crime, related to the criminal organization “Honesty and Purity” (HP)”, dedicated to international drug trafficking and linked to the Colombian cartel Clan del Golfo.

Solano,   36, who served as an assistant to Supreme Court magistrate, Maribel Cornejo,  was charged with the organized crime and corruption of a public official; while the man, 49,  for the crimes against Collective Security, and Organized Crime.

Both were apprehended last Thursday as part of the continuation of Operation “Damascus “, developed since last year.

In his statement before the judge of guarantees, Hironoco Tinoco, the prosecutor Efraín Gálvez, pointed out the alleged link of these two people with a criminal organization allegedly dedicated to the commission of serious crimes in Panama East area, such as kidnapping, robbery, contract killing, extortion, and drug trafficking, among others.

The Public Ministry presented police monitoring and surveillance reports, and, in the case of, WhatsApp transcripts and audios that linked her to the criminal organization and seizure of data, which were legalized in their entirety.

Information leak
The Superior Prosecutor’s Office against Organized Crime argued during the hearing that there was an alleged leak of information from a Court and some chats were found on a prisoner that is allegedly attributed to the former official.

The Defense announced an appeal against the precautionary measure which will be heard on February 18.