Ecuador's War on Drugs: Inside the Police Patrol

Sun Sep 06 2026 15:02:59 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Police, BBC reporter Orla Guerin, tackle surging drug crime in Ecuador's streets, where Colombian and Peruvian cocaine fuels deadly gang wars.

Orla Guerin joins Ecuadorian police on a patrol across the nation's most dangerous areas, where cocaine shipments from Colombia and Peru have sparked a violent surge of gang activity. Powerful local gangs, linked to Mexican cartels and even Albanian mafia groups, are smuggling the drug northward, contributing to a frantic crime wave. Ecuador’s murder rate last year climbed to over 9,200, making it one of the deadliest countries on the planet. The police are battling not just drugs but a network of criminal enterprises that threaten the country’s stability. The story underscores how regional smuggling routes and global cartel ties shape the fight against drug trafficking in South America.

BBC reporter Orla Guerin finds herself on patrol with Ecuador’s police amid a drug‑crime surge that has taken the streets by storm.

The island’s borders are little more than borders to coca‑producing neighbours: Colombia and Peru. These countries pump huge quantities of cocaine into Ecuador, where home‑grown gangs rubber‑stamp them into the next phase of the supply chain.

These gangs are far from a random mix of local crime: they moonlight for Mexican cartels and even Albanian mafia groups, turning Ecuador into a major hub for the drug trade.

Last year, the country’s interior ministry reported over 9,200 homicides – a figure that ranks Ecuador among the world’s deadliest nations.

For the next several weeks, Orla shows how the police push back against this tide, swapping footage of intense search operations, nighttime patrols, and coordinated raids on drug‑processing sites.

The story illustrates the bigger picture: how global drug networks, regional pipelines and local war‑freaking gangs create a perpetual war in cities that is as old as the narcotics they trade. \
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