Drug Killing of Eliécer Estribí Guerra, Agner Darío Moreno, José Manuel Pinzón Bazán, Carlos Javier Espino and Víctor Navarro Otero.

Panama's Anti-Drug Prosecutor in Chiriquí is on the trail of a Panamanian citizen suspected to be responsible for the execution of five Panamanians near Neily City in Costa Rica. According to judicial information the suspect frequently crosses the border between Panama and Costa Rica making it difficult for authorities to find him. The suspect was identified with the cooperation of Costa Rica's Judicial Investigation Organism (OIJ), which has conducted several operations as part of their investigation, to include taking statements from protected witnesses. Investigations being conducted in both countries have not ruled out the possibility that these executions might be related to the recent dismantling of a drug smuggling organization several weeks ago in Chiriquí. It is also possible that these drug runners were related to the Mexican "Sinaloa Drug Cartel." Last Wednesday afternoon five bodies were discovered near Neily City, Costa Rica, a few kilometers from the Panamanian border. Killed were Eliécer Estribí Guerra, Agner Darío Moreno, José Manuel Pinzón Bazán, Carlos Javier Espino and Víctor Navarro Otero.

Pablo Rayo-Montano aka El Tio who had been on the run for 10 years. The arrest of the capo was spectacular.

Colombian-born Pablo Rayo-Montano, known as El Tio (the uncle) who was captured in Brazil.While not all the agents used disguises to snare their prey, the sheer scope of the operation appeared to take those arrested by surprise. Agents claimed to have seized more than 50 tonnes of cocaine and millions of dollars in the coordinated raids, after three years of surveillance.
"It is extremely significant when you consider the amount of cocaine - 52 tonnes," said a spokesman for the Drugs Enforcement Administration in Washington yesterday.
"That significant effect is going to be felt around the world." He said that more arrests could follow.
The prime catch, as far as the DEA officials and their colleagues in Brazil were concerned, was Rayo-Montano, who had been on the run for 10 years. The arrest of the capo was spectacular.Seven federal agents armed with assault rifles swept into the luxury apartment in the upmarket Itaim neighbourhood of Sao Paulo, which the capo shared with his wife, early on Tuesday.The officer responsible for his capture, Sergio Trivelin, told reporters that Rayo-Montano used an art gallery called Proart in the chic Jardins area to launder drug trafficking money and that he was responsible for sending at least 20 tonnes of cocaine to the US and Europe each month.Rayo-Montano is described as one of the world's top 10 drug traffickers by Brazilian authorities.Twelve arrest warrants were issued by police in Sao Paulo and among the arrests were six Argentines and two other Brazilians, including his wife, Elizabeth Albear.Police believe he used so-called "Go-Fast" motorboats to deliver the drug to the Gulf of Mexico, where it was then picked up by fishermen. His involvement in the cocaine trade is thought to stem back to the 1990s, when he became an associate of the Cali cartel in Colombia."The drugs were delivered disguised as fish," Mr Trivelin told the O Globo newspaper, adding that the trafficker was known to be negotiating the purchase of large amounts of tuna fish in Brazil.As well as running his fiefdom on islands around Panama, he also had extensive properties in Brazil, including apartments, art galleries and fishing companies. Police, who also found a painting by the Brazilian artist Di Cavalcanti in his flat, value El Tio's assets at at least $70m (37m).
Other arrests were made in Colombia, Panama, Ecuador and Costa Rica. Such a large operation is almost unprecedented as it is difficult to coordinate when there are so many opportunities for information to leak.One of the features of the Rayo-Montano cartel, according to officials, was the vast scale of its transport system. "The organisation had its own private, rogue navy to run a drug business that was nearly as sophisticated as a small nation," DEA administrator Karen Tandy said in a press release.An estimated $70m (£37m) has been seized in the current round of arrests.
The Rayo-Montano organisation has been a major target for the DEA which claims that it is responsible for both cocaine and heroin smuggling to Europe and the US. Whether Rayo-Montano is now extradited to the US to stand trial is another issue.
Although the US would like to see him in a federal court, where, if convicted, he would probably spend the rest of his life behind bars, Brazil is likely to want to try him there first.

Panama police arrested a Bulgarian national carrying a large quantity of cocaine

Panama police arrested a Bulgarian national carrying a large quantity of cocaine on February 20, Focus news agency reported. The 29-year-old, whose last name was withheld, was carrying the drug in a secret compartment in his suitcase, and was arrested at Panama City's Tocumen international airport. He was traveling to Valencia, in Spain, which is believed to have been his final destination, Focus news agency said, quoting local news website Terra. Panama authorities have arrested several Bulgarians over recent months on drug-related charges as they continue their war on drugs. The Bulgarian was is part of a joint programme by the Panama national police and airport authorities to combat drug trafficking. In January, police in the Latin American country arrested another two Bulgarians, aged 36 and 39, who were though to be part of an organized crime group smuggling cocaine from Columbia to Western Europe via Panama. Another Bulgarian national, believed to be involved in smuggling drugs from Latin America into Europe in yachts, was shot in Panama in November.

Jose Nelson Urrego Cardenas

Panamanian police descended on a small, private island off the Pacific coast of the Central American nation. They arrested the island’s owner, a middle-aged Colombian named Jose Nelson Urrego Cardenas, as well as his 20-year-old girlfriend, who testified before Panamanian prosecutors.
The police also found a sophisticated communications center on the island that is a clue to Urrego’s occupation and to his connection to the Gulfstream II jet that fell from the sky over Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula about a week after his arrest — with close to four tons of cocaine onboard.A revelation about the Gulfstream II incident that connects the cocaine onboard directly to the U.S. government via an informant and convicted narco-trafficker: Urrego.
In addition, press reports in Latin America add credence to Vega’s revelations, which help to piece together the fabric of long-running DEA, ICE and CIA operations in Panama, Colombia and Mexico.