Alleged  drug lord and 13 others in preventive  detention

The guarantee judge Tamara Tamayo decreed the preventive detention for Carlos Mosquera, considered by the Drug Prosecutor’s Office as the alleged leader of a criminal network dedicated to drug trafficking on the coasts of Los Santos, Herrera, Coclé, and Veraguas.

The network was recently dismantled during Operation Alpes, in which almost six tons of drugs were seized.

Judicial sources reported that, during the hearing on Monday, January 22, the judge also granted a measure of periodic reporting -on the 15th and 30th of each month- as well as the prohibition of leaving the country to Nitizia Pérez Díaz, romantic partner of Mosquera.

At Monday’s hearing, the court also applied the provisional detention measure to another 13 people for conspiracy to transport drugs.

Sentencing deals
 In addition, three 72-month prison sentences were validated through sentencing agreements. With these three agreements, the number of people convicted in the operation rises to 23.

The operation was carried out for a year and a half, involving monitoring and surveillance work in the provinces of Panama, Panama Oeste, Coclé, Veraguas, Herrera, and Los Santos.

Judge Tamayo charged 70 people for alleged drug trafficking conspiracy. The Drug Prosecutor’s Office has indicated that the criminal network received drugs from Colombia, hid them, and then sent them to the border with Costa Rica in vehicles with a double bottom.

The court will begin this week to debate the legalization of the seizure of cars seized during the operation, which are valued at more than $2 million.