national

Panama’s secret airstrips

Drug traffickers are using undocumented airstrips to bring shipments into the country.

Carlos Lemos/LA PRENSA

brief landing:Tiny airstrips like this one are being discovered throughout the country. Authorities say drug smugglers use them.992520

Panama's small airport business is booming, but that's a problem for police and other authorities trying to stem the flow of illegal drugs into the country.

Authorities say that at least 36 unlicensed airstrips have been built in remote areas of the country, but, in truth, officials don't know how many such facilities exist.

The runways, which are often no more than a strip of on the back of a farm, are used by drug traffickers to bring drugs, primarily cocaine, into the country from Colombia. They then load up the bundles of cash they made selling the drugs and return home. Panama is a popular destination for drug shipments because planes can easily avoid local radar, and because, once in Panama, the drugs can be funneled to their intended market, mainly the United States, over land. The planes are initially needed because no roads pass through the Darién jungle between Panama and Colombia.

The country's top drug prosecutor, José Almengor, admitted that the country has a serious problem with undocumented flights coming from Colombia.

Authorities are trying to address the problem. They are starting to put farms purchased by foreign residents, particularly those bought by Colombians, under survelliance.

Local pilots have also told them about an airstrip in El Porvenir, called Mandinga, which has been closed for 10 years. But they say there is evidence that planes have been landing there recently.

But the problem isn't only with undocumented airstrips, the Autoridad Aeronáutica Civil (AAC) said. The country has about 50 private airports that are used by small planes. The majority of those are unsupervised, which means no one from the government is keeping track of who uses them.

The AAC said it is responsible only for licensing the airstrips, and has no responsibility to monitor their use.