Son of former president Bucaram accused in U.S. of drug trafficking; network sent cocaine by sea
The federal prosecutor's office in New York has formally accused Jacobo Bucaram of drug trafficking. He was detained in Guayaquil along with four other Ecuadorians.
Jacobo Bucaram transferred to high-security prison whilst awaiting extradition to U.S.
The Federal Prosecutor's Office of the Southern District of New York has filed formal charges of drug trafficking against Jacobo Bucaram, son of former Ecuadorian president Abdalá Bucaram (1996–1997), according to informador.mx. Bucaram was detained last Wednesday in Guayaquil and on Friday 6 November the authorities confirmed his transfer to the high-security prison El Encuentro, where he will remain in custody until his extradition to U.S. justice is completed.
The case involves an alleged criminal network made up of five detained Ecuadorian citizens this week. According to the charge, the group allegedly conspired for more than a decade to introduce large quantities of cocaine into U.S. territory through maritime routes.
Political figures among the co-accused
Among those prosecuted are Jaime Estrada Bonilla, former mayor of the coastal city of Manta and current candidate for the same office, and his son Jaime Estrada Medranda, who served as an assemblyman for the Correa movement. Both were arrested simultaneously in Panama.
The other two detainees, Geovanny Fernández Menéndez and William José Briones López, entered the high-security prison alongside Bucaram after being captured during a series of raids executed in Guayaquil the same Wednesday.
Export company as front and links to organised crime
The U.S. prosecutor's accusatory document details that the Estrada family used their seafood export company as a front to conceal drug shipments. The organisation allegedly operated in close collaboration with leaders of Los Choneros and Los Lobos, groups classified as terrorist organisations by both Daniel Noboa's government and the Trump administration.
According to the charge, these criminal organisations facilitated the logistics necessary for intermediaries to coordinate shipments and receive corresponding payments.
Investigations point to the Estradas having sent Fernández and Briones in 2026 to hold strategic meetings with Bucaram to negotiate the transfer of two tonnes of cocaine to Mexico with final destination in the United States.
U.S. authorities also mention an operation carried out in 2023, when Ecuador's police seized more than 1,400 kilogrammes of cocaine hidden in a container from the Estrada family's export company at the port of Guayaquil.
Bucaram's judicial history
This international charge emerges just two months after an Ecuadorian court sentenced Jacobo Bucaram and his father Abdalá to more than nine years and four months in prison for organised crime, related to the irregular commercialisation of tests to detect COVID-19 during the pandemic.
Source: Google News EC — Crime