01/22/2024 10:22 pm (current 01/22/2024 10:30 pm)
Ten tons of cocaine destined for the European market are discovered in Ecuador ©APA/THEMENBILD
Security forces in Ecuador have dealt a heavy blow to drug-related crime in the South American country. About 22 tons of cocaine were seized in an underground cellar in the city of Vinces, in Los Ríos province, the military said on Monday. “This operation represents a significant weakening of the operational, logistical and financial capacity of drug traffickers around the world,” the military wrote on the X platform, formerly Twitter.
More than 150 military forces arrived by land and air to carry out “the largest operation ever carried out in this country” after several months of investigations, Ecuadorian newspaper El Universo reported.
The drug was hidden in a ditch in the underground basement of a banana plantation. It was a warehouse for distributing the drugs to various ports from where they would be shipped to Europe, said El Universo, citing the person responsible for the operation. Some of the brick-like blocks were marked with the initials of two European airlines. In addition to the drugs, rifles, knives, ammunition and radios were also seized.
Several gangs linked to powerful Mexican cartels fight for control of drug trafficking routes. Ecuador is an important transit country for cocaine from Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, which is smuggled to the United States and Europe.