Ecuador's Navy Boards Hapag Lloyd Boxship Under Way to Remove Cocaine
On Saturday, Ecuador's navy seized about 800 kilos of cocaine from a Hapag-Lloyd boxship off the coast of Manta after receiving a tip-off about possible drugs on board.
At a position about 45 nautical miles off Manta, an Armada del Ecuador boarding team met up with the boxship Guayaquil Express, an 11,500 TEU container ship headed from the Posorja terminal to the Panama Canal. The ship's transatlantic rotation has calls at the major European smuggling hubs of Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg.
According to EFE, an armed group of about 25 criminals had approached the Guayaquil Express in boats, boarded it and placed the illicit cargo on board. After notification of the incident, Ecuadorian naval forces boarded the vessel and seized the illicit cargo. No arrests were reported in connection with the bust.
"This operation reinforces the commitment of the Ecuadorian Navy in the fight against drug trafficking and the protection and maritime security in aquatic spaces," the Armada del Ecuador said in a statement.
Ecuador is a major transit nation for cocaine produced in Colombia and Peru, with trafficking volumes in the hundreds of tonnes per year. The nation's smuggling patterns have historically focused on the banana trade out of the Guayaquil region, where plentiful Europe-bound reefers provide opportunities for hiding drugs within cargo. Increasing rates of interdiction of this established route have prompted changes in drug placement patterns.
Guayaquil Express is a 2017-built containership operated by Hapag-Lloyd. As of Monday, AIS data showed that she was headed northbound and approaching the entrance to the Panama Canal.