An international investigation that has been going on for two years resulted in the arrest of 26 port workers who are charged with turning the Panamanian port of Balboa into a hub of drug trafficking. Authorities in Australia are reporting that, working with their Panamanian and international counterparts, they have been able to dismantle an organized crime network responsible for trafficking cocaine targeting the lucrative Australian and European markets.
Drug cartels, mainly from Mexico and Colombia, are said to have been relying on corrupt port workers and contractors to traffic more than one tonne of cocaine intercepted in Australia and across Europe in recent years.
Following two years of extensive investigations, Panamanian authorities executed 37 search warrants across Panama on July 7, the outcome of which was the arrest of 26 people alleged to be workers from the Balboa Port.
The arrests were executed after intelligence shared between the Australian Federal Police (AFP), Australian Border Force (ABF), Panamanian National Police, the Panamanian Public Prosecutor’s Office, and other international partners identified links between the alleged syndicate and multiple cocaine detections and seizures in Australia from October 2024 to present.
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