Panama  seizes 26.2 tons of drugs in six months

Panama’s National Aeronaval Service (Senan) reported Tuesday, June 20 that in the first half of this year, it has seized 26.2 tons of drugs, mostly cocaine, within the framework of 56 operations carried out in the coastal areas and territorial waters of the country.

Of the total number of illegal substances seized, Senan detailed that 17 tons correspond to cocaine, 8.3 tons to marijuana, in addition to 68 packages of base paste (a drug similar to crack).

The Pacific coast is where the transfer of illegal substances occurs the most with 14 tons, while on the Caribbean coast, 12.3 tons of narcotics have been seized, according to a statement from the force. It also highlighted that of the 97 people apprehended for their direct links to international drug trafficking, 44 are Panamanians, 41 Colombians, 9 Nicaraguans, 2 Costa Ricans, and 1 Guatemalan. Only one woman is among those arrested.

Authorities of Panama seized in 2022 the historical figure of 138.41 tons of drugs, of which 108.82 tons were cocaine. Panama is used as a bridge for drugs that are produced in South America and whose main destination is the United States, the largest cocaine consumer in the world, and also Europe.