The prison is filled with drugs

Ecuadornews:

An average of 36 people are imprisoned daily in the country, for their alleged involvement in international drug trafficking and micro trafficking.

The average is derived from the 10,730 detainees registered by the National Police through its anti-narcotics units, within the 9,176 cases that it has executed between January and October of this year, on a national scale; which has allowed the seizure of 72.6 tons of all types of substances subject to control. 34 tons, in the province of Guayas.

The last seizure occurred on Monday, October 29, in a warehouse located in the Duran canton, where they detained two people who were in care of 1.3 tons of cocaine hydrochloride.

“We have increased the number of detainees in relation to the previous year,” said General Carlos Alulema, National Director of Antinarcotics. The official highlighted as important the affectation that has been achieved, in addition, to the production of drugs, with the seizure of 153,594 kilograms of solid chemicals, and 17,654 liters of liquid chemicals, which are used for processing.

Alulema detailed that the last operation was carried out after the citizen information received, regarding unusual cargo meetings, as well as the entry of people and heavy transport vehicles in an export company of agricultural products, called Frutas Tropicales, located on the road Durán-Tambo.

“It was like a façade that the organization was using, to make the collection of the substance subject to control,” the official commented.

After the raid, the police found a truck-type vehicle, in whose container they found several jute bags with 1,200 packages of plastic wrappers, which tested positive for cocaine hydrochloride on the field test. Part of the wrappings had the ICE and AXN logos.

From the first investigations, the Police presume that the drug was going to be exported through the Port of Guayaquil, towards the international consumer markets. The route it would take and how it entered the country is unknown.

“Usually these amounts of substances are entered in small quantities … they are arriving in smaller amounts to avoid controls and avoid large losses,” the official explained.

But, he explained, 90% of the drug that passes or stays in Ecuador comes from Colombia; the rest comes from Peru, which has its outlet market through Bolivia and Brazil.

The investigation is aimed at knowing who would be behind the illicit traffic. For Alulema, logos are not always fixed to know which group it belongs to. “It can be different producer or where it goes, we cannot even talk about structures … the logos come from laboratories, which in Ecuador there are not. Here we investigate the people who receive, collect, transport, send and what we are stopping, “he said.

In detail

Affectation

So far, the Police has affected the coffers of narco-criminal organizations in more than 6 billion dollars, which would be the value of the 72 tons seized. The one on Monday would be valued at approximately two million 500,000 dollars. The price increases according to the distance of the consumer market. The greater the distance, the greater the cost, says the police.

Microtraffic

With regard to internal consumption, figures and authorities are clear: It is very high, says Alulema. Of the 10,733 detainees nationwide, 9,946 were trafficked for internal consumption in 8,478 cases. Only 563 were for international drug trafficking, but with the highest amount of confiscation: more than 60 tons, compared to 12 tons in retail sales. (I)

Source: https://www.expreso.ec/actualidad/carcel-droga-policia-incautacion-microtrafico-MH2449709