Panamanian authorities reported this Tuesday that they intercepted 8 citizens from India and one from Ecuador when they were mobilized by an alleged human trafficker or "coyote" through a sector of the Darien province, bordering Colombia.

The migrants were located in a boat that was moving 4 nautical miles off the Los Delgados sector in the Darien province, said the National Border Service (Senafront).

The illegal migrants were intercepted together with an unidentified Panamanian citizen, who was placed under the order of the Public Ministry "for the possible Crime Against Humanity in the  Smuggling of Migrants."

Last week, the Panamanian Border Police detected in a sector of the Caribbean bordering Colombia a boat with 5 Cuban migrants who were mobilized by an alleged "coyote" or human trafficker, who was detained.

Thousands of migrants from various countries are entering the border between Panama and Colombia, both through the dangerous Darien jungle and by sea, who, moved by international criminal networks, cross several South American countries and are destined for North America.  Panama reported last Friday that it signed an agreement for Colombia to expeditiously provide information on irregular migrants heading to the country, which it described as "a first step to comprehensively and responsibly address the situation" of these people. in mobility. The Panamanian Foreign Minister, Erika Mouynes, proposed on April 9 in a virtual meeting with her Colombian counterpart, Claudia Blum, an agreement that allows a controlled flow of irregular migrants, similar to the one implemented with Costa Rica in 2016, when the massive arrival of people in transit generated a humanitarian crisis on the common border.

During the first quarter of 2021, 7,150 migrants entered Panama irregularly through Darién, 4,403 in March alone, according to data from the Foreign Ministry. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), in Colombia, reports that there are more than 10,000 irregular migrants and refugees waiting to pass to Panama on their journey to North America.