162 police probed in 5 years for links to organized crime
From January 2017 to June 202 Police Directorate of Professional Responsibility conducted 162 investigations involving 214 uniformed officers for drug possession or links to organized crime.
On June 1, 2021, the colleagues of a National Police captain read an arrest warrant against him. Then they stripped him of his uniform down to his underwear. They handcuffed him and exposed him in front of the rest of the staff in the parking lot of the Transit Operations Directorate, where he worked.
The captain had more than 14 years of service in the Police. Between January and June 2021, he earned about $13,000 in salary and representation expenses, given the responsibility he had over the area.
Later he was imprisoned during the Oasis operation. The Attorney General, Javier Caraballo, had offered details about the dismantling of a criminal group that had been targeted three years ago and that during the course of the investigation had confiscated 2,600 kilos of drugs on different dates. The criminal group, introduced the drug to Panama by sea through the Pacific from Colombia to the area of El Salado, in the province of Coclé, and by land in the Darién area in double-bottom vehicles to Costa Rica or by containers to Europe. Among the 25 people who were arrested was the captain. The prosecutor’s office accuses him of “receiving money from the criminal group in exchange for omitting his obligations, and of providing security in the reception and transport of the drug.” In addition, they point to him for allegedly ordering the release of one of the traffickers who, according to the prosecution, provided sensitive information about police operations against drug trafficking carried out in San Carlos, which allowed them to evade police surveillance.