Ecuadorian Police reported that, during an operation, a container with 432 boxes of squid contaminated with drugs was found in the port of Guayaquil. 

After the tests carried out, the discovery of 1,294 envelopes of cocaine hydrochloride was confirmed , which the police officers discovered in a shipping container of frozen squid.  

Substances were hidden in the roof of the container and in the middle of the maritime product with the intention of hiding it behind the characteristic smell of the squid. 

Ports and Airports Information Unit (UIPA) of the Police Antinarcotics Directorate led three operations that produced the seizures. The destination of the confiscated goods was the Kingdom of Belgium. Intelligence units and the Regional Dog Training Center also participated in the operation. On Sunday, October 9, an anti-drug dog found the 1,294 packages of cocaine in the shipment of squid. 

The total weight of the drug was 1.5 tons, equivalent to 13 million doses, said Colonel Milton Montalvo Calderón, deputy commander of District 8, which includes the Guayaquil , Durán and Samborondón cantons . 

During another operation, a man was arrested with 120 packages of cocaine hydrochloride. The total weight of the alkaloid is 304 pounds, equivalent to 1.2 million doses.  

A total of 154 tons or 340 thousand pounds of drugs, equivalent to 1.4 billion doses, have been seized throughout the country since January 1 of this year. In District 8, seizures totaled 78 tons or 172,000 pounds. 

In the early hours of October 10, seven people (three women and four men) were arrested in connection with micro-trafficking. The Police reported the seizure of 553 grams of heroin, equivalent to 15,000 doses, and 1,031 grams of cocaine, equivalent to 10,000 doses. 

Captain Héctor Huilcapi, head of the Unit Against Trafficking of Internal Consumption in Guayaquil, said that a former policeman who would be the leader of this criminal organization is suspected, in addition to two women who would perform the functions of vendors.  

He indicated that the drug came from Colombia and that it was stored in Durán, where the two detainees were in charge of distributing it to the Guayaquil consumer market, and from here to other cantons or regions of the country. Captain Huilcapi assured that two thousand doses were sold a day. This means that, with 2,000 doses sold per day and 1.4 trillion doses withdrawn from circulation per day, the amount of product that micro-trafficking could not sell is immeasurable. 

Unit Against Internal Consumption Trafficking in Guayaquil arrested seven people in operations carried out in the most violent areas of the Guayaquil and Durán cantons.  

The agents raided 11 houses in different judicial processes. Agents deployed after a three-month investigation to Pascuales, Florida, Nueva Prosperina and Duran. 

A former police officer, who was fired for extortion in 2006, has been accused of being the leader of the criminal drug gang behind these crimes. Another detainee also has a criminal record. During the capture of the ringleader, 12 cell phones, USD $2,726 and scales with weighing doses of alkaloids destined for sale were seized. 

Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso confirmed that the National Police disarmed 531 criminal organizations operating in Guayaquil. The announcement was made in the solemn session for the 202 years of the Independence of Guayaquil, known as the commercial capital of Ecuador, which is now one of the 50 most dangerous cities in the world due to the increase in violence.  

According to infobae, the city is considered a logistics hub for shipping drugs to Europe and the United States, according to the US State Department. Furthermore, a recent investigation revealed that the Albanian mafia controls illegal cocaine smuggling routes and even set up “murderer schools” in the city, recruiting children as young as 10 years old.