Drug capo and government staff  arrested in police raids

Ezequiel Alarcón, alias “Zequi” is the latest drug lord living in style to be arrested when Police and agents from the Public Ministry’s Drug Prosecutor’s Office broke into the exclusive residential complex The Reserve, in Santa María, on Wednesday.

He was captured along with 10 people including government employees investigated for alleged drug trafficking and money laundering crimes detected during Operation PTY, carried out by the Drug Prosecutor’s Office since March 14, 2022.

 Rubiana Baker Costarelos, who until Wednesday held the position of technical assistant in the Ministry of Government was arrested alongside Zequi.

 Others grabbed in simultaneous raids  are Aylín Ortega, an official of the Panamanian Institute of Sports (Pandeportes); the accountant Margarita García, who works at the Ministry of Education (Meduca); and Yasmina Almengor who works in the Communal Board of Mateo Iturralde

 The National Police reported that there were 11 captured, in simultaneous raids in Veraguas, Coclé, Colón Panamá Oeste, and Panamá, in which 14 vehicles (two armored), eight firearms with carrying permits, and seven cell phones were seized.

Costarelos was part of the board of the company Grupo Albak Pro, whose president is “Zequi”, and is located in the PH Génesis Tower, in San Francisco reports  La Estrella.