Pablo Ramirez, the head of the National Anti-Drug Administration, said 18.5 tonnes of drugs were seized in April alone and nearly a thousand people were arrested. The most recent shipment (1.9 tons of cocaine) was intercepted in the port of Guayaquil, the “merchandise” was concealed among bananas and was intended for shipment to Sweden, reports Primicias.
It should be noted that Guayaquil is one of the cities most affected by drug trafficking and the increase in crime. According to local media, at least 18 people were killed there over the weekend during a confrontation between gangs. And this despite the fact that a month ago, due to endemic banditry in Guayaquil with the adjacent regions of Duran and Samborondon, as well as some other provinces of the country, a state of emergency was declared. Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso has pledged to fight criminals to the fullest extent permitted by law, likening them to terrorists.
Ecuador’s constitution allows the country’s president to declare a state of emergency and call in the military when the country faces serious internal unrest. Lasso has already used this opportunity several times. In 2022, the state of emergency was declared three times in Guayaquil. Since the beginning of March, the state of emergency has been in force in the province of Esmeraldas, on the border with Colombia.
Interestingly, the quantity of drugs seized in Ecuador is so large that they were invented to be used in the construction of houses. They make concrete slabs. This method is said to process banned substances four times faster than destroying them by incineration. And more than 350 tons of cocaine have already been processed this way.
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