Panama's Ministry of Public Security (MP) reported on Saturday that agents of the National Aeronaval Service (Senan) seized 835 packages of drugs in the Panamanian Pacific and arrested four people for their alleged involvement with the shipment.
The packages containing the illicit substance were found on a vessel intercepted south of Isla Chepillo off the coast of the province of Panama, on the Pacific coast.
During the police operation, carried out in coordination with the MP's anti-drug prosecutor's office, "four people were apprehended" to be brought before a Guarantees Judge, the investigative agency reported on its social networks.
The information does not specify the type of drug seized or the total weight, although the packages of illicit substance usually weigh a kilogram, and cocaine is the most trafficked drug through Panama's ports.
Previously, on November 11, Panamanian authorities reported the seizure of a "historic" 13,508 kg of cocaine, valued on the market at around 200 million dollars, from a tugboat intercepted in the Pacific waters of Panama sailing towards North America from Colombia. Ten nationals of Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Colombia were captured during the seizure of this large shipment.
Panama, a transit country for drugs produced in South America and destined for the United States—the world's largest consumer of cocaine—and Europe, seized around 80 tons of illicit substances in 2024, according to official data.
