QUITO, Ecuador – Police in Ecuador say some 8 metric tons of cocaine seized last week belonged to rebels in neighboring Colombia who operate a smuggling network involving Ecuadorean soldiers.
Police Col. Juan Carlos Rueda, head of the anti-organized crime unit, says a group known as Front 48 of the Revolutionary Armed Forced of Colombia moves drugs across the border into Ecuador. The drugs are taken to Ecuador's Pacific coast, then by boat to the U.S.
Rueda says the seven men arrested in a sting operation in Quito last week worked for the rebels and included two active Ecuadorean soldiers.
Rueda said Tuesday that the FARC's smuggling network includes contacts in Mexico, the U.S. and Spain.
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