United States and Panama join forces to fight crime

06-17-2009 | MARIJULIA PUJOL LLOYD

American law enforcement agencies often cooperate with the National Police

Panama Star PANAMA. The United States government alerts the Panamanian authorities if an American known sex offender enters the country and there have been occasions in which the police forces of both countries have cooperated to arrest those criminals, said the US Chargé d’Affairs, Tomas Mesa.

The diplomat said that members from the different police forces and organizations as the FBI have been coming to Panama to give training to employees of the Public Ministry and the Judicial Investigation Department DIJ about how to detect, fight and prevent sexual crimes committed against minors.

Mesa added that although the United States has not given monetary assistant of equipment to the Panamanian authorities, they always cooperate with them help them to resolve cases where knowledge of technology is very important like the ones involving the posting of child pornography on the Internet.

The Charge d’Affairs said that in the past the DIJ has attended meetings in Maryland to coordinate with an international task force investigating a child pornography case.

Periodically the FBI send to Interpol Panama lists and photographs of alleged sexual predators and other criminals, that the US authorities suspect have come to Panama trying to flee the American justice.

The Interpol passes the information to the Panamanian police, which in turn issue warrants for the arrests of those individuals.

Over the last six months the National Police has helped in the captured an extradition of at least three American men who were wanted by the US justice.