Seizure of 1.6 tonnes of cocaine at Guayaquil port bound for Mexico
The National Police seized 1,675 kg of cocaine hidden in industrial machinery at the port of Guayaquil. Two executives of the exporting company were detained.
1.6 tonnes of cocaine seized disguised in machinery in Guayaquil
Interior Minister John Reimberg confirmed the seizure of 1.6 tonnes of cocaine at the port of Guayaquil bound for Mexico, according to vistazo.com. The operation resulted in the detention of two people linked to the exporting company responsible for the shipment.
National Police agents detected 1,684 blocks of drugs concealed inside an industrial machine declared at customs as a metal separator, within an export container. The net weight of the shipment amounted to 1,675.58 kg.
Reimberg stated that the value of the seized substance would reach USD 50.2 million on the United States market, whilst on the national market it was estimated at USD 4 million. Following the discovery, the manager and legal representative of the exporting firm were apprehended.
Ecuador, bordered by Colombia and Peru—the world's two largest cocaine producers—with several ports on its coastline and a dollarised economy, has consolidated itself in recent years as a key corridor for drug trafficking to Europe and North America. Guayaquil accounts for the majority of seizures recorded along the Ecuadorian coast.
Between January and September, the National Police seized more than 160 tonnes of alkaloids nationwide. Of that figure, 90.4 tonnes have been destroyed, according to data from the Interior Ministry.
Once seized, the substance is placed at the disposal of the competent authority and is transferred to State warehouses for destruction. The method employed is inertisation, a chemical-physical process that reduces the drug to fine powder using an industrial shredder, before mixing it with construction materials such as cement, lime, sand, water and accelerant chemical additives.
Source: Google News EC — Guayaquil