Ecuador seized around 8.8 tonnes of cocaine hidden between bananas in a container bound for Belgium at the port of Guayaquil, police said on Sunday.
“Record seizure in 2023 of more than eight tons of cocaine,” wrote the police commander, General Fausto Salinas, on his Twitter account.
“We prevented (the international sale of) 90 million doses, worth 330 million dollars in Europe”, he estimated, broadcasting a video showing police officers searching the container.
Located between Colombia and Peru – the world’s main cocaine producers – Ecuador seized a record amount of the drug in 2021: around 210 tons bound for European ports.
In 2022, seizures exceeded 200 tonnes – 61% of which was hidden among bananas destined for export. Since the beginning of 2023, they have reached 31 tons in total.