Pubdate: Sat, 24 Mar 2007
Source: Irish Examiner (Ireland)
Copyright: Examiner Publications Ltd, 2007
Contact:  http://www.irishexaminer.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/144
Author: Kathia Martinez
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

DRUG CARTEL BEHIND COCAINE SHIPMENT

MEXICO'S powerful Sinaloa drug cartel was behind the record 20-ton 
cocaine shipment that was seized by the US Coast Guard off Panama's 
Pacific Coast last weekend, officials have said.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has called the seizure, 
worth nearly $300 million (€225m), the largest ever by the Coast Guard.

The drugs were found in containers on a ship that left Guyana and 
passed through the Panama Canal on March 15 on the way to the Mexican 
state of Sinaloa, said Panama's top drug prosecutor, Jose Almengor.

Coast Guard officials detained 11 Mexicans and three Panamanians 
during the seizure on Sunday about 32km south-east of the island of 
Coiba off Panama's coast. The Mexicans will be taken to the US to 
face trial, while the Panamanians will be jailed in Panama.

Mr Almengor said the Sinaloa cartel has just begun to establish 
itself in Panama, which borders Colombia.

The majority of Colombia's drugs move along central America by boat 
or plane and then pass through Mexico over land before they are 
smuggled into the US.

Officials believe fast boats from Colombia had delivered the cocaine 
to the ship after it had passed through the canal.

"The drugs didn't pass through the canal," Mr Almengor said. "That's 
clear from the way it was packed in a rudimentary way."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman