Drugs from Ecuador Seized at the Port of Balboa in Panama
Panamanian authorities seized 936 packages of drugs, each weighing approximately one kilogram, inside a shipping container at a seaport near the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal. The shipment arrived on a vessel from Ecuador, Panamanian authorities reported on Monday, February 16, 2026.
The Panamanian Prosecutor’s Office reported on its X account that, together with the National Aeronaval Service (SENAN), it seized 936 rectangular packages with a suspected illicit substance during a raid at the Port of Balboa, located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal.
The operation took place aboard a Maltese-flagged vessel. The National Air and Naval Service (SENAN) reported the seizure of 936 packages of suspected drugs in a container that had departed from Ecuador, at the Pacific anchorage in Panama.
Authorities did not specify the type of illicit substance or the destination of the shipment.
So far in 2026, Panamanian authorities have reported other large-scale seizures. On January 1, agents from the National Air and Naval Service (SENAN) intercepted a vessel in one of the islands of the Pearl Islands archipelago in the Panamanian Pacific, where they found 5,356 packages of drugs.
According to statistics from the Public Ministry, Panama seized 129 tons of drugs in 2025 and 47.8 tons of chemical precursors.
Panama is a transit country for drugs produced in South America and destined for the United States and Europe. Some of that drug is found inside containers transported on large ships.
