More than 900 kilos of drugs were seized again off the coast of Manabí

MANTA, Manabi

A vessel that was abandoned last weekend after National Navy air-maritime station personnel discovered it on the high seas, was searched and inside more than 800 drug packages were discovered in a double bottom of the ship.

After being discovered by Navy personnel, who were conducting surveillance with an air-maritime exploration ship and a Coast Guard launch, the crew members of the vessel threw some 14 drug packages and 22 fuel tubes with 18 gallons each into the sea last Saturday, detailed the naval institution.

The packages and pomas were collected by personnel from the Baltra Island coastguard boat some 40 nautical miles off the coast of Manta.

A few hours after finding the drug on the high seas, the members of the Navy’s coast guard boat checked the interior of the boat and took it to Manta to be fully inspected.

National Navy reported a new discovery of drugs on the high seas; now they seized 1.5 tons

Upon arrival at the port, intelligence personnel from both the Police and the Navy observed that the boat had a double bottom and that there were more than 800 packages in that space. In total they found more than 900 kilos of drugs.

Rodny Chávez, chief of Subzone 13 of the Manabí police, declared that with this joint work with the Ecuadorian Navy, it was possible to prevent this drug from being taken to another nation.

Chávez said that the boat was abandoned in the high seas and for now the investigations of the case continue.

In Manabí, the seizure of more than 18 tons of drugs has been reported so far this year, a figure that has already exceeded the nearly 16 tons seized throughout 2020.

Between the end of October and the beginning of November, several similar cases have been reported of people throwing drugs into the sea after being discovered by surveillance teams. They have also fled before the arrival of ships from the naval authorities. (I)