Belgium-bound cocaine worth $330 million seized

Ecuador confiscated about 8.8 tonnes of cocaine worth $330 million that had been hidden between bananas in a container bound for Belgium, police said Sunday.

"Record seizure in 2023 of more than eight tonnes of cocaine," wrote police commander General Fausto Salinas on his Twitter account.

"We prevented (the international sale of) 90 million doses, worth $330 million in Europe," he said, posting a video showing police searching the container, which was being shipped from the port of Guayaquil.

Located between Colombia and Peru -- the world's main producers of cocaine -- Ecuador seized a record amount of the drug in 2021: about 210 tonnes bound for European ports.

In 2022, seizures exceeded 200 tonnes - 61 percent of which were hidden among bananas destined for export -- and so far this year they have totalled 31 tonnes.