(laht) Panamanian police seized 2,030 kilos (4,471 pounds) of cocaine and arrested three people, a senior prosecutor said Monday.
Nataniel Murgas told reporters that the cocaine confiscated on Sunday, was hidden in a tank with a double bottom that was being towed by a van, which the cops pursued after receiving a tip that it was carrying drugs.
The operation was carried out at a checkpoint in Guabala in the province of Chiriqui, some 500 kilometers (310 miles) west of the capital, where police detained a Panamanian and a Mexican who were escorting the van in a pickup truck, and a Honduran who was driving the larger vehicle.
A police report, which did not identify those under arrest, said that three guns were found inside the pickup.
This was the second major cocaine bust in the last few days, after the one on Nov. 30 in which the Panamanian military confiscated 1,307 kilos (2,879 pounds) of the drug near the Pacific coast of the Chiman region.
To date in 2010, Panama’s security forces have confiscated 71 tons of illegal drugs, mostly cocaine, according to figures provided by the Public Safety Ministry. EFE