Colombian drug trafficker escapes from an “extreme security” prison in Panama

Photo: National Police of Panama / Courtesy

A Colombian citizen sentenced to more than 12 years for drug trafficking in Panama escaped early Tuesday morning from the prison known as La Mega Joya, the largest in the country and subjected to “extreme security,” reported the Police, who activated a extensive search operation.

“The National Police is looking for the Colombian Cesar Tulio Sanchez Valdeswho was reported this morning as a fugitive from the La Mega Joya Prison Center, where he is serving a 150-month prison sentence for crimes of International Drug Trafficking,” the public security agency published on its social networks.

The poster published by the National Police (PN) shows a photograph of the fugitive, as well as telephone numbers so that citizens can provide any information.

The commissioner of the National Police (PN), Jorge Bryan, explained to local television that between one and two in the morning The agents of the prison watchtower observed a silhouette “fleeing from the penitentiary center”which was corroborated after a review in which it was found that it was Sánchez Valdés.

In the Mega Joya, inaugurated in 2014 and with a capacity for 5,504 inmates, the largest in the country according to official information, “extreme security is maintained”said the commissioner, so a joint investigation will be launched with the Public Ministry to find out how the prisoner escaped.

A “strong operation” is being carried out to search the surroundings of the prison, which involves agents of the special forces of the National Police, as well as the National Border Service (Senafront), added the commissioner.

Keep reading:
– Hispanic man sentenced to life in prison for a bombing in Las Vegas escaped from prison using a mannequin.
– The Sinaloa Cartel caused chaos in Zacatecas to try to free several inmates from a prison.