During an operation, the Colombian Navy intercepted one semi-submersible loaded with medicines. It is the same as the one found by Ecuadorian authorities, 60 kilometers off the coast of Esmeraldas province, in the north of the country.

The narco-submarine, 15 meters long and gray in color, was seized in the waters of the Pacific Ocean, near the port of Buenaventura (west), and He had 795 kilos of cocaine with him. The three people on it have been arrested.

On Sunday, the Colombian Navy issued a statement reporting the seizure of the country’s “first semi-submersible of the year.”

According to a statement from the Ecuadorian Armed Forces, the operation was carried out in collaboration with that country’s police and the Colombian Navy. Three Colombian citizens were detained on board the boat.

A flagrant delicto hearing was set for the three arrested over the semi-submersible carrying 3.2 tonnes of drugs

A UN report shows that 2022 was a record year for drug cultivation in Colombia. The cultivation of coca leaves in that country, raw material for the production of cocaine, grew by 13% to 230,000 hectares of crops.

Although no cocaine is produced, Ecuador is one of the main drug trafficking corridors on the continent and acts as a collection and transit point for cocaine originating from Colombia.

Ecuador ended 2023 with an unprecedented number of murders per 100,000 inhabitants and started 2024 by declaring internal armed conflict by the government of Daniel Noboa against criminal gangs that are part of the international drug trafficking chain. (JO)