Crime & Justice

Over 3 tons of alleged drugs bound for the Netherlands seized in Panama

Panama City, Oct 30 (EFE).- Nearly 3.5 tons of alleged illicit drugs have been seized in Panama from a ship bound for the Netherlands, marking the largest seizure of its kind in the country, authorities reported Saturday.

The packages were confiscated by National Aeronaval Service of Panama (Senan) officers from containers on a ship in transit from Chile.

“We made a profiling of a ship that brings containers from Chile, passing through Panama, and with a final destination to Holland. Alerts are activated and it is verified that there is falsification of the seals,” Luis de Gracia, chief commissioner of the second region of Senan, told Efe.

De Gracia said that when the ship was searched in a Panamanian Pacific port, they discovered “100 bags with 3,499 packages of illicit substance,” marking “the largest cargo found in containers” in the country.

The type of substance found in the container, which arrived from San Vicente, Chile, has yet to be determined.

Panama has confiscated a record 98.6 tons of drugs so far this year, the vast majority of them cocaine, said the minister of public security on Oct. 22.

Of these, more than 80 tons were trafficked through sea routes, while some 27 tons of cocaine were found in cargo containers, a method on the rise.

Panama, a transit country for drugs produced in the south of the continent and whose main market is North America, seized a total of 84.87 tons of drugs in 2020, mostly cocaine. EFE

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