US and Ecuador launch joint raids against drug trafficking networks

The US has conducted a joint operation with Ecuador to target drug traffickers in the South American country, the military's Southern Command said.

The US Embassy in Quito announced that American forces worked with their Ecuadorian counterparts and the European international police agency Europol to dismantle a large-scale drug-trafficking network linked to the Los Lobos gang.

The operation comes a day after Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa hailed the US as an "ally" which is taking part in a "new phase" of Ecuador's war on the drug cartels.

What happened in the operation?

The operation led to the arrest of 16 suspects, including what has been described as a "high-value target".

Europol said that more than 100 law enforcement officers from countries like Belgium, the Netherlands and Ecuador were involved in the operation.

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The investigation began in January and officials were able to seize 3.7 tonnes of cocaine in the Netherlands, more than three tonnes in Belgium and more than half a tonne in Ecuador.

The drugs had reportedly been hidden in fruit containers headed to Europe.

Europol reported that cocaine smugglers from Ecuador linked to the Los Lobos gang were collaborating with an Albanian trafficking network. Their partnership ensured that once the shipments arrived at European ports, the drugs were quickly split up, moved inland, and distributed across several countries.

Ecuador's drug disease

Around 70 percent of the drugs produced by Colombia and Peru, the world's largest and second-largest cocaine producers, respectively, are shipped through neighboring Ecuador.

The drug trade has unleashed a bloody turf war that has turned one of the Latin America's safest countries into one of its deadliest in the space of a few years.

At a meeting with police earlier, Noboa announced a curfew from March 15 to 30 in Ecuador's four most violent provinces: Guayas, Los Rios, Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas and El Oro.

Interior Minister John Reimberg told reporters his advice to local residents was: "Stay home. We are at war."

The United States and Ecuador have boosted their security cooperation since the right-wing Noboa came to power in 2023.