Three Tonnes Of Cocaine
Seized in Panama
PANAMA CITY (AFP) -
Three tonnes of cocaine
have been seized by
authorities on Panama's
Caribbean coast and two
more were discovered in
a house in southern
Mexico, officials from
the two countries have
said.
Panamanian police said a
patrol found 122 bags
stuffed with 3,027
one-kilogram (2.2-pound)
bricks of cocaine that
had been hastily
abandoned next to a boat
on the banks of the
Petaquilla river, and
three men were arrested.
Panama's anti-drug
prosecutor Jose Almengor
said notes were written
on the bags, "which led
us to believe that the
drugs were bound for
five criminal groups in
Mexico."
Almengor said he
contacted anti-narcotics
agents in Mexico to
alert them to the haul
and to coordinate
interdiction, but it was
not immediately clear if
the drug seizures were
directly connected.
Police said this was the
third major drug bust in
Panama in the past 30
days, with authorities
seizing 11 tonnes of
cocaine in that period
and some 25 tonnes since
the beginning of the
year. |
