During 2022, 201 tons of drugs were seized in Ecuador and the Anti-Narcotics Police dismantled 212 organizations dedicated to the sale of illicit substances. In different operations, a total of 12,523 people were also apprehended for drug trafficking (drug trafficking and micro-trafficking).
It is a record number of arrests that the Police highlights, however, only 6 out of 10 apprehended are still behind bars.
General Pablo Ramírez, national head of Antinarcotics, revealed that at least 5,000 of those captured have obtained alternative measures to preventive detention and in a matter of hours have returned to the streets.
In many cases, the processes continue, but end in abstentive opinions by the Prosecutor’s Office and acquittals by judges who release the detainees from responsibility.
According to figures from the Prosecutor’s Office and the Judiciary, as of October 2022, 9,131 complaints had been filed for crimes of drug trafficking, consumption, and production. Until that same date, 5,411 trials had been initiated.
Pablo Ramírez assured that they presented several complaints during 2022 before the Council of the Judiciary for these decisions that he considers unfair, because the agents have collected evidence against the defendants.
An example of this is the process that two weeks ago in Manabí freed 18 people who, according to the Drug Control Administration (DEA), had sent 30 tons of cocaine from the Sinaloa cartel to the United States.
Even the DEA agent who investigated the gang came forward to give their testimony, despite this they declared them all innocent.
Manabí court confirms innocence of 18 defendants for drug trafficking in apparent connection with the Sinaloa cartel
Another twenty tons of this same organization were captured in the ports of Ecuador and the United States.
At the national level this year, 201 tons of drugs have been seized, in 2021 there were 210 until December 31. Most of it is cocaine and the main markets continue to be Europe and North America.
“43% of the drug goes to the Netherlands, Belgium, Mexico, Spain and the United States,” according to Ramírez.
That is why he mentioned that one of the last seizures of 2 tons that was in a container bound for France and in a rare product, calcium silicate, has caught his attention. Drug traffickers normally take advantage of common export products such as bananas, flowers or tuna.
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The Antinarcotics chief also highlights the discovery of a ton of drugs camouflaged in a fuel tanker with a double bottom.
“The drug traffickers innovate all the time, they see several alternatives and in small vehicles, also in small quantities, they collect in Manabí and Guayas, so by 2023 we will have a new road control plan with the use of new technology,” said Pablo Ramírez.
Regarding technology, he also highlights that June 30 is the deadline for the scanners to be up and running in all national ports, but the official warns that this is not an infallible method and reveals that in the Port of Posorja, until now the only with a scanner, the seizure of narcotics has risen.
Ramírez maintained that last year in Posorja only 2 tons of drugs were seized while so far in 2022 22 tons have already been discovered in that fishing port.
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In general, seizures in ports this year have risen by 40%, as shown by the official Anti-Narcotics figures, since in 2020 a total of 23 tons were seized in the eight ports of the country, in 2021 the figure it rose to 54 tons, while in 2022 the amount seized already exceeds 76 tons in the ports.
The ones that move the most drugs are the maritime terminals located in the south of Guayaquil, where improvements were implemented this year and, according to Antinarcotics, drug seizures are more effective.
On February 14, a load contaminated with 7 tons of cocaine was seized, on June 28 the seizure of 7.2 more tons was announced in a single day after reviewing three suspicious containers. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
