Panamanian authorities reported Friday the seizure of 2.3 tons of drugs, in three operations carried out on the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. One of the caches was destined for the port of Valencia, in Spain.

The National Aeronaval Service (Senan), in collaboration with the Specialized Prosecutor for Drug-Related Crimes, seized a total of 2,344 packages (approximately one kilo each) in the last 48 hours, explained Xiomara Rodríguez, prosecutor of the department.

The first seizure occurred in Punta Mala, in the province of Los Santos on the Pacific coast, where a speedboat with two crew members was intercepted, where there were 52 packages among which "a total of 1,550 packages were counted," according to The fiscal.

The packages must be taken to a controlled substances laboratory "to verify the type and weight" of the drug, Rodríguez noted.

The second operation was carried out in the province of Colón, in the Panamanian Caribbean, where, according to a Senan statement, "40 drug packages hidden in the refrigeration panels of a container from Guayaquil, Ecuador" were found in transit through Panama, bound for the Spanish port of Valencia.

The third seizure, also in Punta Mala, occurred after a boat was intercepted by the coast guard, where to lighten the weight they threw 25 sacks of drugs into the sea, later counting 754 packages of illicit substances.

Asked about the total value of the seized drugs prosecutor Rodríguez acknowledged that it is difficult to know since there are "different values ​​depending on the country in which the possible sale of the illicit substance is made, each country has a different price."

EUROPE, A LUCRATIVE DESTINATION 
Deputy Commissioner Luis Rodríguez, in command of the Naval Command, explained to EFE that the Pacific area is where a greater number of seizures of drug caches tend to take place, and that even the packages seized in the Caribbean had arrived "en route through the Panama Canal" from the west coast.

The final destination of that container where the drug was located was the port of Valencia, in the Mediterranean, which would serve as an entrance to the lucrative European market.

"Generally, a large amount of containerized cargo takes its final route to Europe (...) The price in Europe is much more attractive to criminals than here in America," the deputy commissioner explained.

So far this year, he noted, Senans has successfully carried out 66 operations, in which they seized a total of 32,289 packages of illicit substances. During those operations, they arrested 108 individuals.

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 produced in South America and its main destination is the United States, the t largest cocaine consumer in the world.