PANAMA | A Colombian woman was arrested at Panama's Tocumen International Airport on Friday with suspected cocaine hidden under a wig, Panamanian drug prosecutor Xiomara Rodriguez said.

The inmate, who was traveling between Colombia and Madrid, Spain, was accosted by police at the airport after her hairstyle aroused suspicion.

After a scanner test, officers were able to see that between the braids of her natural hair and a wig she was wearing, the suspect was hiding drug pills attached to her head.

According to Ms. Rodríguez, the woman, about whom no further details were given, wore “68 black cylindrical packages containing white powder” under her wig.

This is an “unprecedented” mode of trafficking in Panama, Ms. Rodriguez added in a video posted on the Panama Attorney General’s Office Twitter account.

Among the curious forms of drug trafficking, the Panamanian police surprised in 2021, in the perimeter of a prison, the “narcochat”, a feline carrying cocaine, crack and marijuana tied around its neck.

Panama is the main gateway to Central America for drugs from South America, mainly from Colombia, the world's largest producer of cocaine, destined for the United States, the world's largest consumer of this drug.

Authorities in Central America, however, have noted a significant increase in drug trafficking to Europe, mainly through Caribbean ports.