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According to the Police, so far in 2023, more than 122 tons of drugs have been seized and 6,975 people have been apprehended for trafficking illegal substances.
Some 150 people have been arrested and 6.7 tons of drugs seized in Ecuador since the State of Emergency decreed by the Government on July 24 in three coastal areas of the country.
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The National Director of Anti-Drug Investigation of the Police, Pablo Ramirez, said in a press conference that these results were achieved in multiple security operations carried out between July 24 and 30.
The operations were concentrated in the coastal provinces of Esmeraldas (northwest), Manabí (west) and Los Ríos (center), as well as in the Durán canton of Guayas province (southwest), all under a 60-day state of emergency, which includes a nighttime curfew.
Ramírez added that the institution is carrying out actions focused on combating illicit trafficking of controlled substances, insecurity, violence and crime, at a time when Ecuador is going through a citizen security crisis.
Unas 150 personas han sido detenidas y 6,7 toneladas de droga decomisadas en #Ecuador desde la vigencia de un Estado de Excepción decretado el pasado 24 de julio en tres zonas costeras del país sudamericano azotadas por un incremento de la violencia, informó @PoliciaEcuador pic.twitter.com/UP1xvaWkHs
— David de la Paz 戴维 (@daviddelapaz) July 31, 2023
The tweet reads, "Some 150 people have been arrested and 6.7 tons of drugs seized in Ecuador since the application of the State of Emergency decreed on July 24 in three coastal areas of the South American country plagued by an increase in violence, reported @PoliciaEcuador."
According to the National Director, under the State of Exception and through investigative work, interventions in flagrante delicto and urgent acts are much more agile, while detailing the major operations that were executed in the last week.
He mentioned the so-called "Operation Thunder 25" in which almost a ton of alkaloid was seized, and 14 people were arrested, four of them active Ecuadorian Navy sailors who were transporting drugs in a Navy vehicle.
He also highlighted the "Operation Tormes" which was carried out in one of the ports of the city of Guayaquil, capital of the province of Guayas, where 4.3 tons of cocaine were seized in a container of bananas destined for Germany.
The last operation called "Saturno" was carried out early this morning in Guayaquil, where so far, four people have been arrested and 23 packages containing 1,300 brick-type packages with cocaine hydrochloride were seized.
According to the Police, so far in 2023, more than 122 tons of drugs have been seized and 6,975 people have been apprehended for trafficking illegal substances.
This has allowed more than 1.2 billion doses to be taken out of circulation, dealing an economic blow to criminal organizations of US$2.5 billion with these seizures, according to the police.
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