Ecuador seizes 119 kilos of cocaine hidden in a container bound for Germany

Ecuador.- The Ecuadorian Police seized 119.76 kilos of cocaine this Friday that were hidden in a container transporting export fruit, which was bound for Germany from the port in the city of Machala, capital of the El Oro province, bordering Peru.

Anti-narcotics agents selected the container for inspection and, with the help of trained dogs, located 120 rectangular blocks hidden in the floor structure of the container, which tested positive for cocaine in the preliminary identification test.

Interior Minister John Reimberg reported that, as a result of the operation, a man identified as Ángel Geovanny Jacinto Calderón was arrested, and that the drugs are valued at approximately 5.59 million dollars on the European market.

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Surrounded by Colombia and Peru, the world’s two largest cocaine producers, with several ports on its coasts and a dollarized economy, Ecuador has become in recent years an important transit point for the trafficking of that drug, which is mostly headed to Europe and North America.

By the end of May, more than 70 tons of drugs had been seized in the Andean country, according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior.