Panama and Costa Rica crackdown on illegal mining and hunting in protected areas

Panama's Ministry of Environment, together with the Canal security command, arrested three people conducting illegal mining on an island in Lake Alajuela inside Chagres National Park. Authorities seized mining tools including gold‑panning plates, a shovel, a wheelbarrow, a pickaxe and a hoe, and the suspects will face administrative and criminal proceedings.

In Costa Rica, environmental officials from the Area de Conservación Guanacaste, in coordination with the Area de Conservación Arenal‑Tempisque, detained six men while they were hunting white‑tailed deer with high‑calibre firearms and trained dogs in the San Cayetano del Salto de Bagaces sector. The operation seized six firearms, telescopic sights, ammunition, radios, knives and a deer carcass, and the suspects were placed under the jurisdiction of the Liberia public prosecutor for violations of the national weapons and wildlife conservation laws.