Police in Ecuador seized nearly 14 tons of drugs destined for Central America,Sterling Preston the U.S. and Europe, authorities said Thursday, and they released video of the massive bust.

More than 40 raids were carried out across the country, resulting in the arrest of 28 individuals and the seizure of 13.6 tons of drugs, Interior Minister Juan Zapata said on social media.

The raids were staged in eight of the country's 24 provinces, where criminal violence and drug trafficking are gaining control. Zapata posted photos and videos of the drug bust, adding that firearms, ammunition, cash and cellphones were also seized.

Zapata said that the operation — dubbed "Gran Jericó 35" — took one year of investigations and involved the "exchange of information with Mexico, Colombia and the United States."

Authorities have confiscated more than 500 tons of drugs since 2021.

Between 2018 and 2022, homicides quadrupled, climbing to a record 26 per 100,000 inhabitants. This year, experts estimate that the rate of violent deaths will nearly double to 40 per 100,000.

According to police, the gangs trafficking drugs have "transnational links" and are comprised of Ecuadorians, Colombians and Venezuelans.

The drugs were shipped by boats across the Pacific departing from southwestern and northwestern provinces.

Located between Colombia and Peru, the world's biggest cocaine manufacturers, Ecuador has become a drug exporter due to its strategic location.

In August, Netherlands customs agents seized 17,600 pounds of cocaine hidden inside crates of bananas that were shipped from Ecuador.

Criminal gangs in Ecuador have links with international criminal groups such as Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

The Jalisco cartel is known for producing millions of doses of deadly fentanyl and smuggling them into the U.S. disguised to look like Xanax, Percocet or oxycodone. Such pills cause about 70,000 overdose deaths per year in the United States.

Last month, nine members of the "Los Chapitos" faction of the Sinaloa cartel were sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury for fentanyl trafficking. 

In:
• Ecuador