On Tuesday, August 13, the Minister of Public Security, Frank Ábrego, warned the country about the devastating impact of micro-trafficking on Panamanian society.

Ábrego described this illegality as one of the “main scourges affecting humanity” today.

According to Ábrego, street drug dealing “has grown to become a global problem.”

In the context of drug trafficking, retailing refers to the marketing of drugs in small quantities, usually directly to the final consumer.

Ábrego explained that gangs and criminal groups have changed their methods, “preferring to receive and collect payments in drugs rather than cash,” since it is more profitable for them to divide a package of cocaine into small doses, known in the underworld as “passes,” which can be sold for sums between 5 and 15 dollars.

“This poison does not measure social strata,” the minister stressed, emphasizing that drug trafficking affects people from all social strata equally.

The minister also explained that the fight for territorial control and the expansion of the micro-trafficking business among these criminal groups has triggered a “wave of violence and deaths.”

To prevent this avalanche, the idea of ​​sealing off the coasts and shorelines was highlighted, which would significantly hinder the entry of the drug mafia and consequently achieve a decrease in drugs on Panamanian streets.

“Part of our strategy is focused on closing the gap on drug traffickers who try to enter our territory by sea, both in the Pacific and the Atlantic,” he said.

As for solutions, Ábrego reported that undercover intelligence operations are being carried out in various police areas of the country, with special attention to Colón. To date, more than 9,000 subpoenas have been followed up and 29 people wanted by the authorities have been arrested. In addition, three highly dangerous criminal groups operate in the Atlantic region, linked to 35 gangs already prosecuted and another 18 in the process of prosecution, which implies that their members have open files.

Some of these criminal groups operate from Alto de Los Lagos, a neighborhood in Colón, so preventive measures are being implemented in collaboration with the governor and the mayor of the municipality of Colón, the minister reported.

The minister also warned about the vulnerable situation in Colón, where 6,000 children do not attend school and 268 young people have been identified as potential recruits for gangs and criminal groups, information that the Public Prosecutor’s Office has and with which it is already working in a coordinated manner and in collaboration with the prosecutor’s office.

Finally, Abrego pointed out that in the first 45 days of President José Raúl Mulino’s government, the security forces have captured 387 people linked to micro-trafficking, who are currently in the custody of the competent authorities for the necessary procedures.