by Latin American Herald Tribune
PANAMA CITY – A Colombian drug trafficker was killed and two others were arrested in a shootout on the high seas over the weekend, the Panamanian naval air service said.
One of the Colombians has been identified as 27-year-old Hector Hurtado, who was shot in the left leg, naval air service spokesman Vladimir Rodriguez said in an e-mail message.
Hurtado and his two associates engaged a Panamanian naval air service speedboat and a patrol boat in a shootout, Rodriguez said.
“There was an exchange of gunfire in the operation that left one dead, one arrested and one wounded,” the naval air service spokesman said.
The Colombians were carrying an unspecified quantity of narcotics on the boat and managed to “toss some bales of suspected drugs overboard when they saw that they were being chased,” Rodriguez said.
The drug traffickers were spotted by the naval air service vessels near the border with Colombia.
The gunfight, which occurred around 4:45 p.m. Saturday, involved the crews of patrol boat P-843 and interceptor boat BPC-3226.
The shootout happened near the Bahia Piña naval air station, the naval air service spokesman said.
Investigators are questioning the Colombian who was not wounded in the shootout, Rodriguez said. EFE