The control operations were carried out in the provinces of Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas and in Esmeraldas.
More than a thousand bottles of beer and dozens of whiskey, as well as bales of cigarettes, were seized early this Friday by soldiers of the Armed Forces in bushes located outside the Social Rehabilitation Center of Santo Domingo.
With information provided by military intelligence, personnel from the Engineer Battalion number 67 Montúfar, apprehended four people who were found in 52 black jute bags a large quantity of alcohol and cigarettes.
In the sacks, 1,281 beers, 85 bottles of whiskey, 173 packs of cigarettes, 11 bottles of tequila and 5 cans with craft liquor were found.
Contraband liquor is seized in operation in three provinces of Ecuador
The four people arrested were handed over to police officers, while the seized product was transferred in a chain of custody to the warehouses of the Santo Domingo judicial police.
Road control
Some 2,687 canned and bottled beers were seized by police officers from the Esmeraldas Border Operational Control Unit in the Mataje-San Lorenzo highway ring road, the northern border of Esmeraldas province.
The foreign brand beverages, presumably contraband, were entered through the coastal area of Nariño (Colombia) into Ecuadorian territory.
Aníbal Asimbaya, from the Esmeraldas Border Operational Control Unit, explained that the retained drinks were smuggled in, without review by the National Customs Service of Ecuador (Senae) and import payment.
Artisan liquor seized during operation in Pedernales
The police officer did not specify whether the alcoholic beverages were entered through the binational Mataje bridge, clandestine passageways or by sea.
The Navy, Police and Senae have seized in San Lorenzo del Pailón, cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, clothing and footwear, smuggled from Colombia, due to the closure of the Rumichaca bridge.
The seized merchandise was delivered to the Senae, San Lorenzo office. (I)
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