Ecuador seizes cocaine bound for China

[Judi Lynn]

Ecuador seizes cocaine bound for China
Published on May 24, 2015 6:18 AM

QUITO (AFP) - Ecuadoran police have smashed an international drug-trafficking ring that attempted to ship cocaine to China, the interior ministry said Saturday.

Three Colombians, three Ecuadorans, a Dominican and a Venezuelan were arrested after an operation Thursday and Friday in three locations in southwestern Guayas province.

Police seized 253kg of cocaine that was destined for China, the ministry said, calling it "the first time a shipment bound for China has been detected."

The drug ring had been operating in Ecuador since February, shipping drugs from the port of Guayaquil to Panama, and from there to China.

More:
http://www.straitstimes.com/news/world/americas/story/ecuador-seizes-cocaine-bound-china-20150524#sthash.7nErvYrE.dpuf

[Judi Lynn]

1. From last November: Ecuador Seizes Almost Two Tons of Cocaine Bound for Mexico

Ecuador Seizes Almost Two Tons of Cocaine Bound for Mexico
Published 11 November 2014

Ecuador is a frequently used transit hub for drug shipments going north, coming mainly from Colombia and Peru, two of the world's top cocaine-producing countries.

Ecuadorean police have seized 1.8 tons of cocaine, and arrested nine people suspected of attempting to ship the drug to Mexico, the Interior Ministry announced Monday. According to officials, six properties were raided near the towns of El Carmen, Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas and Chone in the country's western low-lying coastal region, in what has been dubbed Operation Burrow (Madriguera).

The National Anti-Narcotics Directorate (DNA) said they found 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of cocaine that was mixed with palm-nut paste, which is normally used as animal feed.

. . .

Ecuador is not a drug producing country, but it does lie between Colombia and Peru which are two of the world's largest cocaine- producing countries. Because of this, Ecuador has become a prominent transit hub for drug shipments going north, whose final destination is usually consumers in the United States.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Ecuador-Seizes-Almost-Two-Tons-of-Cocaine-Bound-for-Mexico-20141111-0005.html