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Ecuador Coordinates with USCG for Crackdown on Drug Smuggling

USCG Ecuadorian Navy
US Southern Command highlights efforts with partners including Ecuador (Ecuadorian Navy)

Published Mar 26, 2026 4:49 PM by The Maritime Executive


The Ecuadorian Navy is highlighting a series of interceptions of drug smugglers while working in coordination with the U.S. Coast Guard. They are reporting it is part of the ”Total Offensive” phase of the operation, but it came as the U.S. also reported striking yet another small boat suspected of smuggling drugs.

The first reported interdiction of the operation was on March 21, when the Ecuadorian Navy, working with the police, executed a high-seas operation. They stopped three small boats approximately 180 nautical miles west of Manta. They reported the operation was undertaken with naval intelligence and the assistance of the National Unit for the Fight Against Organized Crime.

Searching the boats, they reported uncovering hidden compartments creating a double bottom hidden with a false floor. The police broke into the compartments, finding 1800 parcels of cocaine hidden aboard two of the boats. According to the reports, there were 1.7 tons of suspected cocaine, which the police said was valued at $63 million. They arrested six Ecuadorian citizens.

Days later, they reported a second operation undertaken on March 24 by the U.S. Coast Guard. The U.S. detected a suspicious group of fishing boats, pursued, boarded them, searched the vessels, and completed the seizure. They handed over the seizure, including 10 individuals (six were Ecuadorian), to the Ecuadorian authorities.

 

 

According to the report, a larger mothership posing as a fishing boat accompanied by three fiberglass speedboats had sailed under the guise of being a commercial fishing operation. The boats were detected 300 nautical miles from Manta. The initial reports said there were 592 kilograms of cocaine hidden on the fishing boats, but by the time they reached Manta on March 26, the report increased to 760 kilograms.

In total, the report said there had been four interdictions in recent days, seizing five tons of narcotics. A total of six boats were stopped that were operating under the guise of fishing. This was in addition to 12 people who had been apprehended a few days earlier, according to the media reports.

 

 

U.S. Southern Command relayed the statements from the Ecuadorian Navy hailing the multinational efforts underway across the region. In addition, it reported working with Jamaica; they had stopped 2.5 tons of cocaine, while reporting that Chile had stopped a massive shipment totaling 68.7 tons of cocaine and ketamine from reaching Europe and North America.

The U.S. forces, however, also reported on March 25 conducting a strike on another boat in the Caribbean. It said that four males were killed during this latest action.