BRIEFS: Crime

Police seize cocaine, arrest 3

In an operation that began in Panamá Oeste and ended in Penonomé, police yesterday seized 590 kilograms of cocaine and arrested three men. The drugs were found in a truck. Police said the truck was part of a two-vehicle convoy. The other vehicle was a sedan heading to the interior.

Policía Nacional Director Jaime Ruiz said the operation began late Wednesday afternoon after several residents of the Panamá Oeste neighborhood of Cerro Campana noticed several men loading a van with suspicious packages. They called police and provided a description of the van.

Police spotted the vehicle at Río Hato on the Pan-American Highway. The truck and sedan were then stopped at a roadblock set up by police at Penonomé.

Police arrested Jaime Alberto Barrios Barría, 43, Alex Ariel Aparicio Rodríguez, 32, and Raúl Alberto Samudio Ramos, whose age was not listed. All three are Panamanian. The drugs were hidden in the floor of the van, which was otherwise empty. Police do not know exactly where the men were headed.

Police have seized nearly 20 tons of drugs so far this year, and another five tons of narcotics have been seized by other agencies.