By The Opinion
The Ecuadorian Police seized 360 kilos of cocaine hydrochloride that they were hiding in a rural area of the coastal province of Manabí, and that they presume that they were going to be sent to the United States, the institution reported.
Intelligence information led anti-narcotics agents to a property located in a rural area of the municipality of Puerto López, they inspected the place and found several packages hidden among the vegetation.
Eight black jute bags containing 319 rectangular packages packed with brown adhesive tape were found. After the corresponding tests, it was determined that the substance was cocaine hydrochloride, weighing 360 kilos.
William Calle, police chief of Manabí, pointed out that They presume that the drugs were going to be sent to the United States with the help of fishermen that leave from the coasts of the province in speed boats.
“Here there are several cases of people who often do not dedicate themselves to fishing but rather to transport drugs to Central America and the United States,” he indicated.
The officer pointed out that in the United States a kilo of cocaine “costs around $20,000 or $30,000 dollars,” so What was seized would reach “7 million dollars”.
WE AFFECT CRIMINAL ECONOMIES WITH THE SEIZURE OF MORE THAN 3.6 MILLION DOSES OF COCAINE IN #MANABÍ
Operational and investigative work carried out in #Jipijapa, we apprehended an individual allegedly linked to the crime of trafficking of scheduled substances subject to… pic.twitter.com/ekP7MjkS4r
— Police Ecuador (@PoliciaEcuador) May per chance per chance well 14, 2026
Calle also indicated that in this operation a man who was guarding the area where the substance was found was arrested, but that the judge who heard the case did not send him to prison because he determined that “it had nothing to do” with the drug.
Surrounded by Colombia and Peru, the two largest world producers of cocaine, with several ports on its coasts, such as those located in Guayaquil, and a dollarized economy, In recent years, Ecuador has become an important step for drug trafficking. which is mainly directed to Europe and the United States.
In 2025, security forces seized 227.1 tons of drugs, mainly cocaine, 67 tons less than those reported in 2024, when a record number of 294.61 was recorded, according to official data.
With information from EFE.
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