BRIEFS. security

Extra police sent to patrol border

Extra Policía Nacional (PN) units have been dispatched to the Daríen to investigate claims that Colombian guerillas are crossing the border into Panama to commit crimes.

The group reportedly looted a store in the border village of Bajo Chiquito, in the Comarca Emberá Wounaan, the Darién.

Luis Olea, the leader of Villa Caleta, which is located close to Bajo Chiquito, said that the raid has sparked a great deal of fear in towns located close to the border.

PN spokesman Eduardo Lim Yueng said he hasn't had any updates from the officers dispatched to the area, and that the original complaint still has not been verified.

Concerns have been raised about possible incursions into Panama by members of FARC, a guerilla organization operating in remote areas of Colombia. There was no mention about whether the people involved in the Bajo Chiquito incident were members of that organization.