In 2021, the Police seized 210 tons of drugs

The Ecuadorian Police seized 210 tons of drugs in 2021 and attributed to this crime the spiral of violence in recent months, expressed in the prison crisis that left more than 300 inmates dead due to clashes between gangs that disputed the control of the prisons.

This was stated on Tuesday by the general commander of the Police, Tannya Varela, in a press conference in which she made an assessment of the security situation in the country during the past year.

Of the 210 tons of drugs that were seized, 96 were seized in the port city of Guayaquil, the epicenter of the wave of violence and where Varela announced the deployment of some 200 troops who will be used exclusively to investigate crimes.

Summary 2021: Violent deaths grow in Guayaquil and neighboring cantons; presenter and athlete, among victims

The police chief said that drug trafficking is the gateway for other types of crimes and remarked that Ecuador is in the middle of two neighboring countries where part of the security problem originates.

From Colombia, Varela said, drugs come and weapons come from Peru, which is why he stressed the importance of international cooperation with these and other countries in the region to address all open fronts in the insecurity crisis in the country.

He added that the increase in the demand for psychotropic substances also encourages violence and the increase in drug trafficking.

The Ecuadorian authorities have ratified that the country, where there are no plantations for drug processing, is used as a transit territory for drug trafficking, which usually sends illegal substances to the United States and Europe.

In Los Ríos there are already five violent deaths in this 2022

Varela ratified the commitment of the police forces to fight crime and highlighted the efforts to increase the fight against drug trafficking.

He gave as an example that “10 years ago only 18 tons of drugs were seized” and that now it has risen to 210 tons, which has caused damage to criminal organizations dedicated to drug trafficking that is estimated at 384,000 million dollars.

“Our problem is drug trafficking and, as long as we continue to seize drugs, we will possibly stop these crimes,” added the police chief.

On the other hand, Varela assured that 61.8% of the murders that occurred in Ecuador last year were due to criminal violence related to drug trafficking and that it was this phenomenon that triggered the worst prison crisis in recent times which, in addition, “ he ended up going out onto the streets, “he said.

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He explained that of the total number of violent deaths registered in the country, 73.9% were committed with firearms, the carrying of which is prohibited by internal regulations, but which are “the most used by criminal structures” related to drugs.

He compared this indicator with 17.3% of violent deaths caused with knives, the carrying of which is not classified as a crime in the Comprehensive Organic Penal Code.

Therefore, he took the opportunity to urge the National Assembly (Parliament) to pass laws – which were not approved last year – such as the progressive use of force, criticized by human rights groups who see in it a risk for civil guarantees .

Likewise, Varela referred to other legal projects such as Intelligence, Interpersonal Violence with knives and a control law for the police institution.

For his part, the head of the National Directorate of Crimes against Life, Violent Deaths, Disappearances, Extortion and Kidnappings (Dinased) of the Police, Erick Benítez, pointed out that the wave of murders in the country has not stopped.

According to Benítez, in the first days of 2022 Ecuador already accumulates 30 violent deaths and, although “many are related to drug trafficking,” there are cases that come out of the strictly criminal sphere.

He gave as an example the case of a woman who hanged her two children and then committed suicide, in the Andean city of Cuenca, in southern Ecuador. (I)