Presidential Linked Drugs shipments from Ecuador to Europe
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Amsterdam, March 28th 2025– A large-scale drug trafficking investigation, supported by Europol, led to the dismantling of an Ecuadorian criminal cell involved in supplying wholesale cocaine to the EU via major ports. The international operation, led by the Ecuadorian National Police (Policía Nacional del Ecuador), also involved the German Criminal Police (LKA Baden-Württemberg), German Customs (ZFA Stuttgart) and the Spanish Guardia Civil.
The criminal structure targeted in Ecuador is part of an intercontinental criminal network involved in multi-tonne cocaine trafficking via sea containers from South America to Europe. This cell arranged the transport from Ecuador to Europe, managed money flows through different companies and frontmen, and maintained contact with the suppliers. The criminal cells operating in Germany and Spain – equipped with commercial and transport companies and drivers – handled the logistical part of the operation in Europe and the further distribution of the drugs within the EU.
The banana producing and trading firm belonging to Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa’s family has been linked to cocaine exporting to Europe, hidden in fruit shipments from the port of Guayaquil. Journalist Andrés Durán -known locally as “The Chochologist”- has fled the country due to death threats. He claims to have evidence against Noboa Trading.
In 2020, José Luis Rivera Baquerizo, a Noboa Trading worker, was arrested after cocaine was found in banana containers but was released with the help of Edgar José Lama, then an advisor to Noboa and now Ecuador’s Health Minister.
According to the European Commission, 57% of banana containers from Ecuador arriving in Europe carry cocaine.
Family of the president involved?
The scandal unfolds as Noboa campaigns for reelection against González at the upcoming April 13 runoff, a rematch of when he was first chosen
During last Sunday’s presidential debate, opposition candidate Luisa González of former President Rafael Correa’s Citizen Revolution questioned Noboa about these allegations. “My question is clear: Are you or are you not the owner of Noboa Trading, where bananas were exported with drugs in ’20, ’22, and ’24, while you were already president? Five prosecutors have changed and so far no one knows the truth,” Gonzalez asked.
He denied owning the company, though he admitted family members are involved, while highlighting that Noboa Trading has cooperated with investigations. “I am not the owner of the company, but there are members of my family in that company. Noboa Trading has cooperated in each one of the cases, and that has been clarified before the Prosecutor’s Office,” the incumbent President replied.
In a radio interview Friday, President Noboa said charges were filed against those responsible for contaminating exports, clearing company officials of any wrongdoing.
Durán, however, alleges interference in investigations, including the removal of prosecutors. One of the prosecutors even denounced intimidation after investigating the company’s trafficking of illicit substances.
The scandal unfolds as Noboa campaigns for reelection against González at the upcoming April 13 runoff, a rematch of when he was first chosen.
The President also announced Friday he was leaving for the United States to meet President Donald Trump, with whom he planned to discuss migration, trade, and security cooperation.
Ecuador has emerged as a major cocaine export hub, raising questions about ties between the government, businesses, and trafficking networks.
In addition, the oil company Petronoboa -linked to his brother Santiago Noboa Azín- has further damaged the president’s image after allegedly damaging the Ecuadorean State for US$ 4 million through the diversion of subsidized fuel. The incumbent head of State insisted his brother was not a fugitive: “On Sunday I had lunch with him, he is not a fugitive, he has not committed any crime. We can explain and we can prove his innocence,” which his accusers cannot.
