Ecuadorian police launched a number of raids alongside Spanish police early on Tuesday morning after over two years of investigations came to fruition in an operation dubbed “Operation Great Phoenix 13.”
57 properties were raided in cities across Ecuador and Spain, where police seized over 2 tons of narcotics, 500,000 euros, 10 firearms, 25 vehicles, 22 properties, 27 cellphones, and an “undetermined” amount of money in Ecuador.
30 suspects were detained during the raids, with the leader behind the transnational smuggling being a man of Albanian nationality. 10 “corporate coordinators” were also discovered to be involved in the narcotics smuggling, being responsible for transporting the narcotics from Ecuador into Spain.
