13 tons of cocaine bound for the US seized on a ferry in the Pacific, says Panama

Panamanian authorities announced Tuesday a large seizure of cocaine bound for the United States on a ferry in the Pacific, at a time when Washington is intensifying an anti-drug military deployment in Latin America.

Prosecutor Julio Villareal told reporters that in an operation on Monday, approximately 13.2 tons of drugs, “in this case cocaine,” were seized and 10 people were arrested.

It was one of the largest hauls of this type in Panamanian waters to date, he said.

In a publication on social media, the prosecutor’s office released several images of the alleged drugs and said that in total 11,562 packages were seized.

Panama is a transit point for cocaine from South America, mainly Colombia, destined for the United States, the largest consumer in the world.

Villareal said that among those detained on the ferry leaving Colombia were Venezuelans, Ecuadorians and Nicaraguans.

Panama in 2023 seized a total of 119 metric tons of drugs.

Latin American countries have been interested in showcasing their anti-narcotics efforts as US attacks on suspected drug ships They have claimed at least 76 lives so far in the Caribbean and Pacific.

Washington has said its military deployment to the region is part of an anti-drug campaign, but Venezuela in particular fears it is all a ploy to get rid of its president. Nicolas Maduro.

When asked In a recent interview with “60 Minutes” if Maduro’s “days were numbered,” Trump responded: “I would say yes. I think so.”

Recent drug seizures on the high seas

Large quantities of drugs have also been confiscated from ships in other parts of the world in recent months.

In October, police in Spain said that They seized 6.5 tons of cocaine and arrested nine people after a US tip led them to raid a ship off the Canary Islands.

That same month, US Central Command confirmed that a Pakistani navy ship seized narcotics. worth more than $972 million sailboats in the Arabian Sea.

In September, the French navy seized almost 10 tons of cocaine worth more than $600 million worth of a fishing boat off the coast of West Africa.

In April, the United States Coast Guard confiscated approximately 10,000 pounds of cocaine from a fishing boat in the Atlantic Ocean. Earlier this month, the Coast Guard said it had seized more than half a million pounds of cocaine in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean this fiscal year, the largest amount in its history.