Cocaine in banana containers: Noboa family company linked to three seizures since 2020
Magazine RAYA reveals police documents linking banana company Noboa Trading to the trafficking of approximately 700 kg of cocaine. The only person detained was released with help from the current Minister of Health.
Police documents link Noboa family company to cocaine trafficking towards Europe
According to reporting by revistaraya.com, the Investigative Unit of Magazine RAYA gained access to documents from the Ecuadorian Police detailing how the banana company Noboa Trading—owned by the family of President Daniel Noboa—was implicated in the export of approximately 700 kilos of cocaine between 2020 and 2022, destined for several European countries. The drugs were concealed among boxes of bananas at the Naportec port in Guayaquil.
Reports from the Port and Airport Intelligence Unit of the National Police (UIPA) remained hidden for years. Although the shipments were intercepted in flagrante delicto, those implicated did not face convictions. One of those detained was released with legal assistance from the current Minister of Health.
Three shipments, one same port, one same contractor
The first seizure occurred on 20 August 2020, during the pandemic. Agents from the UIPA opened a container belonging to Noboa Trading and found 151 brick-shaped packages, wrapped in brown packing tape, inside four black jute sacks stacked on top of banana boxes. The substance tested positive for cocaine. According to UIPA documents, the container's destination was Croatia.
The discovery resulted in the detention of José Luis Rivera Baquerizo, a contractor for Noboa Trading in charge of anti-narcotics control of the containers. Rivera was released thanks to the intervention of lawyer Edgar José Lama Von Buchwald, who was serving at that time as adviser to then-assemblyman Daniel Noboa and who currently holds the position of Minister of Health of Ecuador.
On 30 June 2022, a second seizure was registered at the same Naportec port. The UIPA and other anti-drug units found 260 packages—bearing a Nike brand logo—hidden in the refrigeration system of a Noboa Trading container. The contents, 260 kilos of cocaine, were attributed once again to Rivera Baquerizo. On this occasion it was also established that his direct contractor was Roberto Ponce Noboa, cousin of President Daniel Noboa and legal representative of the banana company.
A third shipment was detected on 24 April 2024, also at Naportec. UIPA agents found 76 kilos of cocaine hidden in a false ceiling of another container. The drugs were attributed, once more, to Rivera Baquerizo, who remains at liberty.
The journalist who investigated the case had to leave the country
Part of the investigation was made public by Ecuadorian journalist Andrés Durán, who released official documents containing reports of the seizures. According to Durán, after making that information public he received death threats and faced judicial harassment from the Democratic Action Movement (ADN), the ruling party. As a consequence, he had to leave Ecuador.
In conversation with Magazine RAYA, Durán stated: "This is the first documented case in Ecuador's history in which a presidential family would be involved in cocaine trafficking. The Noboa family controls the entire circuit of the banana export business, from planting, harvesting, to transport and private ports. There is no doubt that the death threats are closely related to this investigation."
The issue reached the presidential debate
The matter gained greater visibility on Sunday 23 March during the presidential debate ahead of the second electoral round on 13 April. Candidate Luisa González questioned President and candidate Daniel Noboa about the company and the three seized shipments. Noboa did not deny the facts, but responded with his head down: "I am not the owner of the company, but there are members of my family in that company. Noboa Trading has cooperated in each one of the cases and that has been clarified before the Public Prosecutor's Office. That over there exonerates any official of Noboa Trading from any illicit act."
However, the judicial investigation presents inconsistencies that contradict that version. According to the documents reviewed by RAYA, several prosecutors in charge of at least one of the seizure cases were removed from their duties.
Total control of the banana circuit as context for the discovery
Police documents consulted by RAYA describe how the Noboa family maintains control of the entire banana export chain: cultivation, harvesting, packaging, transport and private ports. The Naportec port, in the south of Guayaquil, is one of the main terminals where Noboa Trading operates and the scene of the three intercepted shipments.
Rivera Baquerizo, the contractor indicated in all three cases, was formally responsible for anti-narcotics control within that chain. Despite having been detained on two occasions, he is currently at liberty. Magazine RAYA notes that political backing would have been decisive in that outcome.
RAYA's investigation specifies that these three cases represent only part of what the Ecuadorian Police have documented, suggesting that the total scope of the matter could be greater.
Source: Google News EC — Crime