Panamanian Businessman Pablo Torres at the Center of Drug Seizure Scandal

The news is now making waves beyond borders. Yesterday, the news agency EFE reported on the fact covered by national media, including noting that “the tugboat where the stash was found, named Oceanic Tug, is owned by the company Dolphin Tugs, which belongs to Pablo Torres, an executive of the Maritime Chamber of Panama”. According to Marine Vessel Traffic, this vessel has been registered since 2022 under the name of Dolphin Tugs. This company appears in the Public Registry of Panama with Torres Chong as its president. Records from the business data platform Panadata also indicate that Pablo Torres is one of the active members of Dolphin Tugs. Furthermore, in the list of companies with valid operating licenses from the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP), updated as of October 30, 2025, Pablo Torres is listed as the legal representative of Dolphin Tugs Inc. However, despite the digital trail keeping this link alive, the businessman denies the allegations. Torres stated that he has had no relationship with this vessel since 2023, as it was sold on March 22 of that year. He also said he has no ownership, operational, administrative, or representation relationship with the vessel or with the activities currently mentioned in the media. Troubled Waters. Torres's name was prominent in the previous government because he was one of the trusted men of Noriel Araúz, the former administrator of the Panama Maritime Authority. The figure of Pablo Torres is once again navigating in troubled waters, but this time not for his business, but for the seizure of a boat with multiple illicit substances to which he is allegedly linked. That same year, one of his multiple licenses for maritime service activities was the subject of a bunker fuel spill. Also, in 2021, lawyer Helga Ceballos filed a criminal complaint for possible acts of corruption against the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP), in which his name was mentioned. Nor should it be forgotten that the company that obtained the exclusive monopoly for dispatching bunker fuel to cruise ships in 2024 had Torres, an ally of Araúz, as its director. This turmoil has already had its first consequences for Torres, who decided to “voluntarily” resign his position as a member of the board of the Maritime Chamber while the facts are clarified and the public demands more answers. Authorities reported on Tuesday the “historic” seizure of 13,508 kilograms of cocaine, with a market value of about 200 million dollars, from a tugboat intercepted in the waters of the Pacific. It should be recalled that in 2020 his company was granted the occupation of Pier 8 of the Balboa Shipyard.