Panamanian authorities on Tuesday announced a large seizure of U.S.-bound cocaine on a ferry in the Pacific, at a time Washington is upping an anti-drug military deployment in Latin America.
Prosecutor Julio Villareal told reporters approximately 13.2 tons of drugs, “in this case cocaine,” were seized in an operation Monday, and 10 people arrested.
It was one the biggest such hauls in Panamanian waters to date, he said.
In a social media post, the prosecutor’s office released several images of the alleged drugs, saying that a total of 11,562 packages were seized.
Panamanian authorities on Tuesday announced a large seizure of U.S.-bound cocaine on a ferry in the Pacific, at a time Washington is upping an anti-drug military deployment in Latin America. / Credit: Panama Prosecutor’s Office
Panama is a transit point for cocaine from South America, mainly Colombia, destined for the United States — the world’s largest consumer
Villareal said Venezuelans, Ecuadorans and Nicaraguans were among those detained on the ferry, which had set out from Colombia.
Panama in 2023 seized a total of 119 metric tons of drugs.
Latin American countries have been keen to show off anti-narcotics efforts as U.S. strikes on alleged drug-ferrying boats have claimed at least 76 lives so far in the Caribbean and Pacific.
Washington said its military deployment in the region is part of an anti-drug campaign, but Venezuela in particular fears it is all a ploy to get rid of its president, Nicolas Maduro.
When asked in an interview with “60 Minutes” recently if Maduro’s “days were numbered,” Mr. Trump responded, “I would say yeah. I think so, yeah.”
Recent drug seizures on the high seas
Large amounts of drugs have also been confiscated from boats in other parts of the world in recent months.
In October, police in Spain said that they seized 6.5 tons of cocaine and arrested nine people after a U.S. tip-off led them to raid a ship off the Canary Islands.
That same month, U.S. Central Command confirmed that a Pakistani navy ship seized narcotics worth more than $972 million from sailboats in the Arabian Sea.
In September, the French navy seized nearly 10 tons of cocaine worth more than $600 million from a fishing vessel off the coast of West Africa.
In April, the U.S. Coast Guard seized roughly 10,000 pounds of cocaine from a fishing boat in the Atlantic Ocean. Earlier this month, the Coast Guard said it had seized more than half a million pounds of cocaine in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean during this fiscal year, the largest amount in its history.
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