According to police, Ecuadorian authorities seized approximately 3.5 tonnes of cocaine bound for the United Kingdom and the Netherlands on Saturday.
The drugs were discovered in two banana containers at separate locations by police.
One shipment contained 2,300 packets of cocaine, each worth a kilo, packed into 92 boxes. The container was intercepted by police as it approached the Ecuadorian port city of Guayaquil.
The other shipment, which was delivered to an unnamed location in the same region, contained 1,218 packets of cocaine packed in 87 banana boxes.
Developing into a drug trafficking hotspot
Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest port, has become a hub for drug traffickers, prompting police to increase drug-sniffing operations in cargo containers.
According to police, one of the containers was bound for the United Kingdom, while the other was bound for Rotterdam in the Netherlands. In connection with the cases, two people have been arrested.
The latest discovery comes a day after Ecuadorian authorities announced the seizure of cocaine hidden in 4,800 tuna cans in an apartment in Manta, a port city on the country’s central coast.
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele recently announced that his country’s authorities had intercepted a shipment carrying 2.2 tonnes of cocaine in the Pacific Ocean.
