Ecuadornews:
Although the route is more extensive to arrive, by sea, to international destinations, the criminal organizations use it to avoid the controls of the coastguards of Ecuador and foreign naval authorities.
On Saturday, May 4 of this year, a ton and a half of substances subject to control were seized in international waters. This was the result of three anti-drug operations, coordinated by the United States Coast Guard with the intervention of Ecuadorian coastguard personnel and speedboats.
In 2018, nine vessels loaded with cocaine were seized by the Navy’s Coast Guard, which has planned its patrolling in the territorial sea with international aid.
According to the captain of Fragata, Jorge Durán, who is also director of Maritime Operations of the Navy, the maritime spaces of Ecuador have approximately 1,111,818 square kilometers, 5.38 more than the terrestrial one.
This maritime space includes the internal waters, the territorial sea, which reaches 12 nautical miles; the contiguous zone and the exclusive economic zone, which are defined in the United Nations Convention on the right to the sea, explained Durán. (I)
Source: https://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/noticias/judicial/12/narcoembarcaciones-operan-galapagos
