(Panama Digest) The Panamanian police seized 26 kilos of cocaine on Tuesday morning at the fish market, at the entrance of Casco Viejo.
“We received a call at 1 o’clock in the morning saying that there was some suspicious activity taking place in the market’s parking lot”, said Major Franklin Serrano, from the Chorillo police station.
“We were told that merchandise was being moved from one vehicule to another. The municipal police arrived there, and a blue container fell from one of the vehicles as it started being chased by the municipal police. That’s where we found the drugs.”
The cocaine was wrapped in 26 one kilo-packs in the small blue plastic container.
According to police sources, the current value of cocaine on the Panamanian market is $3,000 a kilo.
Investigators are still trying to determine whether the drugs arrived to Panama City by sea and if they could have been loaded from the pier normally used by fishermen.
Police officers were inspecting a white passenger van parked in the fish market’s parking lot that could have been used by the traffickers.
“We are also trying to figure out if the drugs were destined for the Panamanian domestic market”, said Major Serrano.
“We suspect that there were a lot more drugs in that vehicle. The policemen who chased it said that it looked heavily loaded.”