BRIEFS: Crime

Colombian paper reports on drug activity

A Colombian newspaper has confirmed an article that appeared Sunday in La Prensa claiming that Panama has become a central meeting point for drug traffickers in the region.

“Panama is the meeting point for Colombian and Mexican drug traffickers to close business deals,” Colombian newspaper El Tiempo wrote in its Sunday edition.

Reporters from the Bogota-based publication confirmed that members of the new generation of drug traffickers from Colombia have met Mexican drug lords in Panama on several occasions.

The paper also gives an account of a party that was held last April in a Panama City casino between members of the Colombian Norte del Valle syndicate and the Mexican Sinaloa cartel to forge an agreement on how drugs could be smuggled through Panama's Pacific coast.

Both La Prensa and El Tiempo singled out Colombian Luis Serna as being a primary player in drug-related activities taking place here.

El Tiempo also highlighted activities being carried out in Panama related to money-laundering, including the purchase of real estate for several times its actual value.