BRIEFS: Drugs

640 kilos of cocaine and one suspect seized

Police seized 640 kilos of cocaine yesterday near the beach at Las Lajas in the eastern part of Chiriquí. One person has been arrested.

A drug crimes prosecutor in Chiriquí, Javier Sorano, said an anonymous caller alerted police to some suspicious activity in the area.

When the authorities arrived on the scene, they found 82 black burlap sacks containing 20 compressed packages of the drug and evidence suggesting that the shipment was about to be buried there.

They also found a white Toyota Hilux nearby. The owner of the vehicle, a 29-year-old resident of Almirante, Bocas del Toro is being held in a public jail on Soriano's orders.

Police subcommissioner Bartolomé Agüero confirmed Soriano's description of the incident and said that police are searching the area for anyone else who might be involved with the drug shipment.

Soriano said that narcotraffickers have arrived by boat to deposit drugs on Panama's coast before. The drugs are buried and then picked up later for overland shipping to their intended markets.