Borderland Beat
Panama • Local media said today Mexican drug trafficking groups operating in Panama are using the country as a base for trafficking cocaine from Colombia to Mexico and the United States.
According to intelligence reports cited by the newspaper La Prensa, the Gulf cartel, Beltran Leyva, Los Zetas and Juarez Cartel were the drug trafficking organizations most readily identified as being present in Panama. The information also indicated that there are 2,500 foreign prisoners incarcerated in Panamanian jails, between 90 and 100 are Mexican nationals, all charged with drug offenses, confirmed by Angel Calderon, Panama's Director of Prisons to La Prensa.
In September 2010 when Edgar Valdez Villarreal, aka La Barbie, was captured in an
operation in the Mexican capital, he told authorities: "all the drugs we transport into Mexico come from Colombia through Panama." Valdez Villarreal was reported to be in Panama in 2007 for the first time when an intelligence report associated the operation with the Beltran Leyva cartel. At that time he was listed as "Boss and security coordinator" of drug deliveries from Colombia that were transported through Panama.
Public Ministry sources consulted for the report indicated that, at the request of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and Interpol, they investigated in Panama between 2007 and 2008 to determine whether the Beltran Leyva had accounts or assets in the country, but the inquiries were fruitless.
In the last seven years, La Prensa outlined several instances that are linked to Mexican cartel members. In one of these incidents, in 2007, a Sinaloa Cartel cell was dismantled. 16 Mexicans and 3 Panamanians were arrested upon the interception and ultimate seizure of their boat loaded with 19.4 tons of cocaine in the Pacific Ocean.
A week after the bust of that large vessel, authorities captured two other Sinaloa Cartel operatives with 200 kilos of cocaine and 2.5 million in cash they were intending to bury in backyard of the residence in the capital.
While from Los Zetas, in 2009, they seized three cars with drug compartments loaded with cocaine crossing at the Paso Canoas border with Costa Rica.
in 2010 four suspected Juárez cartel members were captured at the Tocumen International Airport with drugs in their suitcases with false bottoms.
The presence in Panama of drug trafficking sicarios from Mexican drug cartels are not only witnessed in the streets of this country but many have been left behind in Panamanian prisons for the crimes they've committed.
Panama • Local media said today Mexican drug trafficking groups operating in Panama are using the country as a base for trafficking cocaine from Colombia to Mexico and the United States.
According to intelligence reports cited by the newspaper La Prensa, the Gulf cartel, Beltran Leyva, Los Zetas and Juarez Cartel were the drug trafficking organizations most readily identified as being present in Panama. The information also indicated that there are 2,500 foreign prisoners incarcerated in Panamanian jails, between 90 and 100 are Mexican nationals, all charged with drug offenses, confirmed by Angel Calderon, Panama's Director of Prisons to La Prensa.
In September 2010 when Edgar Valdez Villarreal, aka La Barbie, was captured in an
Public Ministry sources consulted for the report indicated that, at the request of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and Interpol, they investigated in Panama between 2007 and 2008 to determine whether the Beltran Leyva had accounts or assets in the country, but the inquiries were fruitless.
In the last seven years, La Prensa outlined several instances that are linked to Mexican cartel members. In one of these incidents, in 2007, a Sinaloa Cartel cell was dismantled. 16 Mexicans and 3 Panamanians were arrested upon the interception and ultimate seizure of their boat loaded with 19.4 tons of cocaine in the Pacific Ocean.
A week after the bust of that large vessel, authorities captured two other Sinaloa Cartel operatives with 200 kilos of cocaine and 2.5 million in cash they were intending to bury in backyard of the residence in the capital.
While from Los Zetas, in 2009, they seized three cars with drug compartments loaded with cocaine crossing at the Paso Canoas border with Costa Rica.
in 2010 four suspected Juárez cartel members were captured at the Tocumen International Airport with drugs in their suitcases with false bottoms.
The presence in Panama of drug trafficking sicarios from Mexican drug cartels are not only witnessed in the streets of this country but many have been left behind in Panamanian prisons for the crimes they've committed.
