Panama's Operation Mojave raid yields a cannabis arrest in Bella Vista
Panama's drug prosecutors and the DNIP intelligence directorate searched the Tocumen airport cargo area and a Bella Vista premises in Operation Mojave on 12 September 2025, arresting a Panamanian man and seizing dried plant matter presumed to be marijuana, gummies and other items. The same operation found 584.54 grams of Delta-8 THC in twelve vape devices sent by courier from the United States.
🇵🇦 Bella Vista corregimiento, Panama City · Panama
Panama’s drug prosecutors and the National Police’s intelligence directorate,
the DNIP, ran Operation Mojave on 12 September 2025 to dismantle a criminal
group trafficking drugs that arrived from abroad in courier parcels.[1]Officers searched the cargo area of Tocumen International Airport and found a
box sent from the United States and addressed to Panama’s Bella Vista
corregimiento holding twelve vape devices loaded with Delta-8THC with a total
weight of 584.54 grams.[1]
The same operation included a controlled purchase that tested positive and a
search of a business premises, where officers arrested a Panamanian citizen
after finding dried plant matter presumed to be marijuana in different
containers, gummies with a presumed illicit substance, a vape device and an
envelope of pink powder.[1]
The Public Ministry’s statement grouped the Mojave arrest with three people
taken into custody during a week of seizures totalling more than 1.6 tonnes of
drugs of different types across Panamanian ports, a vehicle carrying 400
packages and the La Nueva Joya prison.[1]Mi Diario gave the same three-person
total and described the courier network behind Mojave as moving synthetic drugs.[2]The prosecuting agency said it would keep pursuing objective and
transparent investigations and bring cases before the courts as the Constitution
and the law require.[1]
Photos and video
Handout montage and text marking the drug seizures reported for 7–14 September 2025, including the Mojave courier-trafficking case. Photo: Procuraduría General de la Nación (Panama)Photo details
Mi Diariomidiario.comESEn solo una semana, Fiscalía de Drogas tumba más de 1.6 toneladas de droga al narco
Open questions the AI reported
No weight for the dried plant matter presumed to be marijuana, for the gummies found in the premises or for the pink powder was published, so no cannabis kilograms are recorded.
The substances are described as presumed; no laboratory confirmation of the plant matter as cannabis was reported.
The 584.54 grams of Delta-8 THC is not counted as cannabis, and the wider week's total of more than 1.6 tonnes of mixed drugs is excluded.
The release does not say which premises was searched or where it is, only that the parcel was addressed to Bella Vista; the place is recorded at the corregimiento and coordinates are for the corregimiento, not a searched address.
No charges, court date or outcome for the arrested man were reported.
The statement lists a human-trafficking reference among the week's activities without giving any details.
No second independent outlet was found beyond Mi Diario, which follows the Public Ministry's release.
The single photo on the agency page is a general handout for the week's seizures with no individual caption, so it cannot be confirmed to show this operation.
The same release reports separate port, Panamá Este and La Nueva Joya seizures, which are different events left out.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in Mi Diario: Mi Diario reported that the gummies, the containers of dried plant matter, the vape and the pink powder were seized in that same action and left one person detained.
Panama’s Senafront border service seized 914 rectangular packages of suspected marijuana in Playa Muerto, Darién, detaining two people. The operation also netted phones, GPS devices and a twin-engine boat, with detainees and evidence handed to prosecutors.
Senafront detained one person after two raids in Pueblo Nuevo, Darién, seizing plant material presumed to be marijuana, powder presumed to be cocaine, unfired ammunition, phones and cash. The person and the evidence were handed to the authorities for legal processing.
A judge in Chiriquí approved a plea agreement on 5 October 2026 and sentenced three foreign nationals aged 27, 29 and 32 to 11 years for international drug trafficking, two days after the aeronaval service intercepted a boat carrying 2,852 packages of cannabis south of Punta Burica.
Police arrested a Colombian man at a home in Vacamonte, Arraiján, seizing 30 suspected marijuana seedlings, a shotgun and ammunition during Operation Santander. The detainee and the seized items were placed at the disposal of the competent authorities for investigation and legal proceedings.
