According to official data, over the past two years more than 400 tons of cocaine were seized in Ecuador. It’s already so much they don’t know where to put it and, thus, they implemented a revolutionary idea on a mass level: turn drugs into concrete.
Ecuador is the third country in the world with more drugs seized, according to the latest World Drug Report of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
To use it in building materials, cocaine goes through a process where it is crushed and mixed with other waste materials such as expired drugs or garbage.
Hundreds of blocks of seized narcotics arrive weekly at a waste treatment plant be processed and mixed with glass, medical waste and oil.
A pulverizing machine converts all in powderwhich is then mixed with cement, sand and water to produce the concrete.
The process, after the consequent taking and settling of the crushed material, transforms cocaine into impenetrable matter and does not allow the drug to leak into the ground or be recovered, according to separate reports by CNN en Español and Germany’s Deutsche Welle (DW).
UNODC, the United Nations specialized agency for narcotics, supports this method, known as “encapsulation”. Edmundo Mera, Ecuador’s undersecretary for drug control, told DW they took that trial and they did it “great”. “That’s Ecuador’s virtue right now,” the official boasted.
According to the authorities, this method is four times faster than incineration, the traditional way of destroying the narcotic. is that for burn a ton of cocaine a period of time is required 12 hours.
The technicians of the plant set up on the outskirts of Quito have already worked more than 350 tons of the drug which has become an essential input for the process. Concrete, of course, is intended construction and flooring.
Ecuador: cocaine laboratory destroyed
The armed forces of Ecuador reported this Sunday on the destruction of a cocaine-based pasta processing lablocated in the Amazonian province of Sucumbíos, border with Colombia.
According to the military, the laboratory “had a production capacity of two tons per month about and the accommodation capacity of about 25 or 30 people”.
In coordination with other state institutions, military surveillance and reconnaissance operationswith military intelligence technical personnel, they said.
An Ecuadorian was arrested and approximately 15,000 liters of acetone, 378 liters of distillate, a carbine, four 16-gauge cartridges, nine microwavesfifteen bags of calcium chloride, five cans of acid and four scales.
Plus a vacuum packing machine, an electric generator, 110 gallons of diesel, a van, two gas bottles and two pulleys.
Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.