Police in Panama say they have detained two Panamanian nationals who were travelling in a car carrying 79 packets of illegal drugs.<\/p>\n
Local media have identified one of the detained as the governor of Guna Yala, Erick Martelo. He has since been removed from office.<\/p>\n
The police said they had been acting on a tip-off and stopped the car in the early hours of Tuesday at a road block.<\/p>\n
They found the drugs stashed underneath the seats.<\/p>\n
Panamanian President Nito Cortizo wrote on Twitter [in Spanish] that he was “committed to a zero tolerance policy towards any behaviour which goes against the ethics that all public servants have to adhere to”.<\/p>\n
So far, there has been no comment from Mr Martelo or anyone representing him.<\/p>\n
Guna Yala is located on Panama’s Caribbean coast and is home to the indigenous Guna people.<\/p>\n
In the south it borders with Colombia and its long coastline has long been used by cocaine traffickers to smuggle their goods north.<\/p>\n
Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"