crime

Prosecutor: Arrests "tip of the iceberg"

Police have now charged more than 50 people in connection with a Chiriquí drug smuggling ring.

LA PRENSA

caught:Police examine packages of cocaine that have been seized since the beginning of the year.975984

Three cocaine busts in Chiriquí this month are related to a massive drug smuggling network that operates out of the area, police said.

The drugs are believed to be the drug ring's "inventory." When police started making arrests in the case last year, the network was unable to transport the cocaine and had to hide it.

On Jan. 10, police discovered 500 kilograms of cocaine that was stored in a farm in San Lorenzo. The cocaine was packed in 26 bags that were hidden inside a septic tank.

Around the same time, in the area of Concepción, Bugaba, police seized a large shipment of cocaine that was being transported in a truck.

Police intercepted yet another shipment on Jan. 16. They think the smugglers, who were under surveillance, became desperate to deliver a shipment, and decided to take a risk. That turned out to be a bad decision as police intercepted the shipment at a roadblock.

Police have linked the drugs to a massive ring that centered around a trucking company owned by Severino Marín and his wife, Irma Ortíz.

Last year, police seized more than a ton of cocaine and made more than 50 arrests. Those arrested included some police officers and customs agents who were allegedly paid to look the other way while the smugglers brought in drugs from Colombia and shipped them across the Costa Rican border.

Prosecutor José Abel Almengor said those arrests may be the "tip of the iceberg" now that the additional shipments have been intercepted.

He said that the fact that drugs have continued to be transported means that the trafficking ring is much bigger than police originally thought.

Police have linked the latest shipments together because, in all three cases, the bags used to package the cocaine was coated with a thin layer of sand. This means, police said, that the drugs were most likely stored in the same place.

The drugs found in the septic system were on a farm owned by a close associate of Ortíz and Marín, John Byron Rangel. He had previously been charged with drug smuggling.

Police said the drug smuggling ring transported tons of drugs through Panama using the trucking company owned by Ortíz and Marín.

The case was opened in March of 2007 when police found 12 kilograms of cocaine stored in a truck owned by a banana company.

An investigation determined that the banana company itself was not involved in the smuggling, so attention turned to Ortíz and Marín, since they owned the property where the truck was located.

Ortíz and Marín, were arrested in December along with 45 other people.

Police also charged six people this month, bringing the total number of those arrested to more than 50.