Ecuador confiscated about 8.8 tonnes of cocaine worth $330 million that had been hidden between bananas in a container bound for Belgium, police said Sunday.
“Record seizure in 2023 of more than eight tonnes of cocaine,” wrote police commander General Fausto Salinas on his Twitter account.
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“We prevented (the international sale of) 90 million doses, worth $330 million in Europe,” he said, posting a video showing police searching the container, which was being shipped from the port of Guayaquil.
Located between Colombia and Peru -- the world’s main producers of cocaine -- Ecuador seized a record amount of the drug in 2021: about 210 tonnes bound for European ports.
In 2022, seizures exceeded 200 tonnes - 61 percent of which were hidden among bananas destined for export -- and so far this year they have totaled 31 tonnes.
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