In Ecuador, four criminals in police uniforms forcibly entered a police warehouse and stole around 2.8 tons of drugs.

The head of the national drug control confirmed the incident on Sunday.

Accordingly, the perpetrators are said to have overpowered a security guard and broken open the security doors of the warehouse.

They then fled with the loot in a truck.

According to the police, the investigators later managed to arrest three suspects and secure the truck with the loot.

Tjerk Bruhwiller

Correspondent for Latin America based in São Paulo.

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Ecuador, which borders the two major producing countries of Colombia and Peru, is considered an important transit corridor and hub for cocaine, which is mainly transported from South America to the United States and Europe.

Drug finds in Ecuador have increased.

Most recently, authorities discovered around three tons of cocaine in banana containers at the port of Guayaquil earlier this month.

In the first quarter of this year, more than 50 tons of drugs, mainly cocaine, were seized in the country.

Increasing propensity for violence

The rivalry between different groups and organizations involved in drug trafficking is also blamed for a massive increase in violent crime in Ecuador.

According to government statistics, the number of murders in Ecuador rose by more than 80 percent to around 2,500 last year.

The increasing willingness to use violence has also made itself felt in the country's prisons.

More than 300 prisoners have been killed in several prison revolts in recent months.

Last October, conservative President Guillermo Lasso declared a state of emergency because of the wave of violence and ordered the army into the streets to put a stop to the violence.

However, fierce gang fighting continues to rage in Guayaquil and in the nearby suburb of Duran.

There had been several violent shootings in broad daylight in the past few months, something that had never been seen in Ecuador before.

In late February, a body was thrown from a moving vehicle in Guayaquil, followed by its severed head.

Six days earlier, the bodies of two men were found hanging by handcuffs from a footbridge in Duran.

These are intimidation tactics that are mainly known from Mexico.

According to the Ecuadorian authorities, there is further evidence that Mexican drug cartels have gained a foothold in the country.