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Panama seizes 1.5 tons of cocaine

13 November 2012 03:39 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The Panamanian authorities had seized about 1.5 ton of cocaine in several anti-narcotics operations, official sources said Monday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The cocaine was seized in residential areas of the capital city and along the northern coast of Colon.

Deputy Director of the Police Department's Judicial Investigation Office (DIJ) Alexis Munoz said the first three operations were conducted in the areas of Altos de Panama, Bella Vista, Pedregal and Balmoral, resulting in the arrest of 14 suspects.

Among the arrested, eight were foreigners, mostly from South America.

DIJ agents, jointly with an anti-narcotics unit, also confiscated

more than 20,000 U.S. dollars, high-caliber firearms and various vehicles, Munoz said.

The seizures in Altos de Panama and Bella Vista were linked with a

single criminal organization while the others appeared to be linked with several drug-trafficking rings, he said.

In June, a global report on the drug trade identified Panama as the

country with the third highest number of cocaine seizures, after Colombia and the United States.