“Record in 2023 in the seizure of more than eight tons of cocaine”, wrote the commander of the police, General Fausto Salinas, on his Twitter account.
“We avoided the international trade of 90 million doses, valued at 330 million dollars (R$ 1.719 billion) in Europe”, he estimated.
In a video released by Salinas on the same social network, the police reported that anti-drug agents “separated for inspection a container with bananas for export, whose destination was Belgium”, and that they found about 8.8 tons of cocaine hidden.
Located between Colombia and Peru – the main cocaine producers in the world -, Ecuador seized in 2021 an annual record of 210 tons of drugs, mostly cocaine, with destinations in European ports.
Seizures in 2022 surpassed 200 tons of drugs, of which 61% were camouflaged in the middle of bananas for export, and this year alone they amount to a total of 31 tons.