Several residences located in Costa del Este, Santa María, Marbella and Betania were subject to raids from the early hours of last Wednesday, April 17 as part of operation “Ballena”, carried out by Panamanian authorities to combat organized crime, specifically in their forms of money laundering and drug trafficking.

In three years of management, the Task Force against Money Laundering and Corruption of the Ministry of Security has seized over 14 million dollars from organized crime.  That could be quite the money maker for the Republic of Panama.  As a result of 26 operations carried out against money laundering and corruption, 192 people were captured and 14 million 648 thousand 514 dollars were confiscated, said the Minister of Public Security, Juan Manuel Pino. 

“Panama, whose territorial position is privileged, offers an extensive platform at the service of the growth of the world economy and international profitability, which makes us an attractive scenario for the actions of transnational organized crime,” acknowledged the head of Public Security.  The minister added that this team also responds to requests for assistance from police agencies in other countries, which, in a similar manner, fight against money laundering and transnational crime, following the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force. 

This special unit is made up of the Money Laundering Division of the Judicial Investigation Directorate, the General Directorate of Revenue, the Financial Analysis Unit, the Public Ministry and the Superintendency of Banks of Panama (SBP), with the support of the FBI Federal Investigation Agency. The headquarters of this Task Force against Money Laundering and Corruption is located in Amador.