Quito (EFE).- Ecuador destroyed this Friday 16.16 tons of drugs (cocaine hydrochloride), seized in 32 cases nationwide, bringing the number of drugs destroyed through the encapsulation process in the last two years to 462 tons.
Most of the destroyed drugs were seized in the coastal province of Guayas, located in southwestern Ecuador, the Interior Ministry reported.
The process of destroying the 16.16 tons was attended by the President of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso; the Minister of the Interior, Juan Zapata, and the General Commander of the National Police, Fausto Salinas, among other State authorities.
The ruler stated that in his government – which began in May 2021 – about 450 tons have been seized, an annual average of 225.
“This blow that we give to the economy of the mafias is equivalent to 23,000 million dollars,” he said.
He also pointed out that the Armed Forces of Ecuador and Colombia destroyed 110 laboratories in the border area to produce cocaine. Five of them located in Ecuadorian territory.
“The 110 laboratories had the capacity to produce 2,500 tons per year,” he said.
Combate frontal
For his part, Zapata maintained that Ecuador is the first country in the region to seize drugs and the third in the world, thanks to a policy of frontal combat against drug trafficking.
He reported that in the United States a kilo of drugs is valued at $25,000, while in Europe it costs $50,000. Precisely, the 16.16 tons were destined for that market.
“That represents a severe blow to a criminal economy worth more than 800 million dollars,” the minister calculated.
The undersecretary of Scheduled Substances Subject to Control of the Ministry of the Interior, Edmundo Mera, specified that during the Lasso government, 462 tons of cocaine hydrochloride have been destroyed.
He added that for the destruction of drugs, the Government has the support and cooperation of the Government of the United States, the STAND project of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (ONUDC) and the European Union with the COPOLAD Project. .
drug encapsulation process
Mera explained that after carrying out the judicial verifications, they proceed with the technical part. In a machine (sprayer) the cocaine hydrochloride is mixed with cement, gravel, sand, solvents and other elements.
“This becomes a kind of concrete with which the drug becomes inert,” reads a statement from the Ministry.
With this process, 1.8 tons per hour are destroyed, 16 times more than incineration.
“The encapsulation of drugs is friendly to the ecosystem and for destruction there are environmental permits and licenses,” he said.