Panamanian authorities on Tuesday announced a large seizure of U.S.-boundcocaineon a ferry in the Pacific, at a time Washington is upping an anti-drug military deployment in Latin America.
Prosecutor Julio Villareal told reporters approximately 13.2 tons of drugs, "in this case cocaine," were seized in an operation Monday, and 10 people arrested.
It was one the biggest such hauls in Panamanian waters to date, he said.
In asocial media post, the prosecutor's office released several images of the alleged drugs, saying that a total of 11,562 packages were seized.
Panama is a transit point for cocaine from South America, mainlyColombia, destined for the United States — the world's largest consumer
Villareal said Venezuelans, Ecuadorans and Nicaraguans were among those detained on the ferry, which had set out from Colombia.
Panama in 2023 seized a total of 119 metric tons of drugs.
Latin American countries have been keen to show off anti-narcotics efforts asU.S. strikes on alleged drug-ferrying boatshave claimed at least 76 lives so far in the Caribbean and Pacific.
Washington said its military deployment in 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 askedin an interview with "60 Minutes" recently if Maduro's "days were numbered," Mr. Trump responded, "I would say yeah. I think so, yeah."
Recent drug seizures on the high seas
Large amounts of drugs have also been confiscated from boats in other parts of the world in recent months.
In October, police in Spain said that theyseized 6.5 tons of cocaineand arrested nine people after a U.S. tip-off led them to raid a ship off the Canary Islands.
That same month, U.S. Central Command confirmed that a Pakistani navy ship seized narcoticsworth more than $972million from sailboats in the Arabian Sea.
In September, the French navy seized nearly10 tons of cocaineworth more than $600 million from a fishing vessel off the coast of West Africa.
In April, the U.S. Coast Guard seized roughly10,000 pounds of cocainefrom a fishing boat in the Atlantic Ocean. Earlier this month, the Coast Guard said it had seized more thanhalf a million pounds of cocainein the Eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean during this fiscal year, the largest amount in its history.
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