Three Mexicans And Two Ecuadorians Are Caught With One Ton Of Cocaine On The Coast Of MichoacáN

Mica for cartelinsider.com

Amidst the tension that is being experienced in Ecuador due to the violence unleashed as a result of the escape of Adolfo Macias, leader of “Los Choneros” and alleged link to the Sinaloa Cartel in the South American country, Mexican authorities have linked five individuals, three Mexicans and two Ecuadorians, to the process of transporting nearly a ton of cocaine along the coasts of Michoacán.

Through the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime (FEMDO), it was reported about the arrest (they did not specify the day) and the initiation of proceedings for their alleged involvement in crimes against the health of the five detainees.

This is about Clemente “T” and Ángel “B”, natives of Ecuador, and Marco “R”, Alberto “V” and Miguel “V”, of Mexican nationality; the five were discovered by the personnel of the Coast Guard sailing 145 nautical miles southwest of the Port of Lázaro Cárdenas.

At the time of their arrest, they were traveling on a small vessel with three engines, without registration or a name, similar to the ones used by organized crime to transport cocaine from the ports of Colombia and Ecuador to Mexico.

After reviewing the vessel, they detected 50 sacks with 221 packages filled with a substance with characteristics similar to cocaine and, when weighed, totaled 983.7 kilograms of white powder.

The detainees and seized drugs were placed under the custody of the Fourteenth Naval Zone located in the Port of Lázaro Cárdenas. Meanwhile, during the initial hearing before the Federal Public Prosecutor, the judge granted a six-month period for the completion of the complementary investigation and determined the indictment and pre-trial detention for the five detainees who will remain imprisoned at the Federal Center for Social Reintegration (CERESO) David Franco Rodríguez in Charo, Michoacán.

It was in 2023 when the United Nations World Report on Cocaine 2023 revealed that a large part of the violence in Latin America is related to the advancement of the Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación cartels (CJNG) through the region, mainly in cocaine-producing countries like Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia, and in others like Ecuador that serve as warehouses and shipping points for the sending of tons of drugs to the United States, Mexico, and Europe.

To sustain its presence in more than 100 countries around the world, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) estimates that both cartels have more than 40,000 members working in their ranks.

As for Ecuador, the Situational Assessment Report on Drug Trafficking in Ecuador, published last July, revealed the presence of members of the Sinaloa Cartel in the regions of Sucumbíos, Pichincha, Manabí, Los Ríos, Guayas and Santa Elena through emissaries or representatives since 2003.

The study identifies the local gangs Los Choneros and Los Lobos as organizations used by the Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG to transport drugs from the ports of Colombia, with a stop in Ecuador.

Although the Choneros began their illicit activities in the 1990s, it is estimated that they entered the world of drug trafficking with Adolfo Macías “El Fito” and the Sinaloa Cartel, in the second decade of the new millennium; while the Lobos made a pact with the CJNG in 2019.

In exchange for helping them with drug trafficking from Colombia, Mexican cartels would have provided assistance to criminal groups in Ecuador with weapons, money, and training, according to the study by the Ecuadorian Observatory of Organized Crime (OECO).

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