Two people were arrested in the operation, said the institution, which together with the Armed Forces is carrying out a series of actions at national level to stop organized crime in the framework of the state of exception and internal armed conflict in force in the country.

The Police detailed that after inspections to a container in the port they found several jute bags with controlled substances inside wrapped in brick type packages.

We seized 60 million doses of drugs hidden in high density polyethylene, added the institution.

This Sunday uniformed officers found about 1.5 tons of cocaine hydrochloride 100 nautical miles northeast of the coast of the city of Manta, in Manabi province.

As the agency reported, the naval operation was carried out after the authorities were alerted to the presence of a Go Fast type vessel in an “Ecuadorian exclusive zone”.

The alkaloid, which was thrown into the sea, was also apparently going to be transported along the Pacific route to Mexico.

In recent years, Ecuador has become a key point for global drug trafficking, as in a dollarized economy the mafias use its ports and coasts to send tons of drugs to Europe and North America.

Experts and authorities claim that organized crime gangs in this South American nation are linked to Mexico’s Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels.

Criminal organizations have also linked up with the Albanian mafia to send shipments to Europe from Ecuadorian ports. More than 8,600 people have been arrested in Ecuador since President Daniel Noboa decreed the existence of an internal armed conflict on January 9.

ef/mem/avr