Madrid/The Ecuadorian Police stopped this sunday the shipment of a shipment of cocaine that was destined for Havana. The drug was about to leave the Quito airport in five containers labeled as powdered chocolate.
The packages were detected by two dogs from the anti-drug unit in the airport’s cargo area. The agents inspected the area indicated by the dogs – named Vera and Nita – and found the five colored cylinders containing 17 packages wrapped with latex. The white substance found inside confirmed that it was cocaine hydrochloride.
The cargo, a total of 1.76 kilos or 17,600 doses, has a market value in Ecuador of $4,000, but at its final destination the amount multiplies to $52,800, according to the Police in a press release.
The investigation continues, since so far, no one responsible for the shipment has been identified.
It is not the first time that the Ecuadorian police announce a similar operation. Last year, in December, another seizure destined for Havana made the news, this time at the Guayaquil airport. In that case, the canine unit also located a suitcase containing 1,742 capsules labeled as herbal supplements that, in reality, contained cocaine.
The cargo has a market value in Ecuador of $4,000, but at its final destination, up to $52,800.
The lot, of 964 grams equivalent to 9,640 doses, was valued on that occasion at $19,280 at destination.
In July of this year, a Cuban was detained at the Quito airport who was carrying more than a kilo of cocaine camouflaged in sardine cans in his luggage, another operation discovered by the canine unit. The cans searched also contained latex packages with 1.26 kilos of cocaine, for which the detainee – whose identity was not revealed – faced a sentence of up to 13 years in prison.
He drug market in Cuba has grown in recent years, a fact that is combined with the loss of the information monopoly of the authorities, which previously allowed “negative” news such as drug consumption to be kept under control, officially considered a capitalist tool to corrupt youth.
The Cuban Penal Code has strongly penalized both drug trafficking and consumption, without this fact having served to stop their presence on the Island. In 2024, 1,051 kilos of drugs were seized in Cuba, most of them cocaine, as well as marijuana, methamphetamine and cannabinoids.
In recent years, the most popular drug in every sense is chemicala synthetic cannabinoid that is sold at very low prices, which is why it has achieved rapid penetration in the country.
The lack of future opportunities in the short and medium term, including recreational and work opportunities, are the ideal breeding ground for the growth of consumption. Despite the campaign undertaken by the regime to prosecute drug trafficking and consumption, accompanied by abundant information about exemplary trials against – most of the time – small traffickers, the plague does not stop.
