Two Colombians held as 768 kg of marijuana seized in Tarapoa
A judge in Cuyabeno ordered pretrial detention for two Colombian men arrested at Tarapoa on 8 September 2025, after the army found 800 blocks of marijuana in their pickup. Fiscalía recorded the net weight as 768 kg, and the Defence Ministry estimated the load's illicit-market value at about US$1 million.
🇪🇨 Tarapoa, Río Aguas Negras, Cuyabeno canton, Sucumbíos · Ecuador
A judge in Cuyabeno, Sucumbíos, ordered pretrial detention for two Colombian men
arrested on 8 September 2025 after a military operation seized 800 blocks of
marijuana.[1]Prosecutors charged Edgar Alexis G. C. and Omar Daniel S. N.
with allegedly transporting 800 packages of marijuana in a pickup.[2]The
soldiers operated on a road in Tarapoa, in the Río Aguas Negras area of Cuyabeno
canton.[3]The operation ran from the night of 7 September into the early
hours of 8 September.[4]
At the hearing on the arrest and filing of charges, the prosecutor presented the
case to a judge.[3]The Fiscalía said the weighing record gave the load a net
weight of 768 kg, and a preliminary field test identified it as marijuana.[2]The Defence Ministry estimated the cargo’s illicit-market value at about one
million dollars.[1]The judge also ordered the pickup held and prohibited its
sale, and froze the men’s bank accounts.[2]
Photos and video
Image accompanying the account of the army's seizure of 800 marijuana blocks and the detention of two Colombian men. Photo: CortesíaPhoto details
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Source: Diario ExpresoPhoto captioned as the seized marijuana load; the Ministry of Defence estimated its value at about one million dollars. Photo: CortesíaPhoto details
SWI swissinfo.chswissinfo.chESPrisión preventiva para dos colombianos por llevar 800 bloques de marihuana en Ecuador
Diario Expresoexpreso.ecESEjército incauta 800 bloques de marihuana en Sucumbíos: dos colombianos detenidos
Open questions the AI reported
The sources do not state the date of the preventive-detention hearing or order separately; the court-stage accounts are dated 9 September 2025, while the arrest and seizure are dated 8 September.
Accounts describe 800 blocks or packages, while the Fiscalía gives a net weight of 768 kg; these are package count and measured weight, not competing weight estimates.
The men's names are abbreviated in the official bulletin as Edgar Alexis G. C. and Omar Daniel S. N.; full names are not supplied.
The destination of the cargo is not reported.
No plant count or cultivated area is given; the marijuana was seized from a vehicle.
The opened accounts report the pretrial detention order but no later trial or sentence.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in SWI swissinfo.ch: Soldiers found 20 jute sacks holding the 800 packages in the pickup.
Ecuador's National Police stopped an interprovincial bus at the Km 24 circuit and found 4,153 grams of marijuana hidden in a passenger's backpack. A Colombian man identified as the luggage's owner was detained and placed at the disposal of the judicial authority.
Ecuadorian army troops searched a house at the entrance to Monterrey, in La Concordia canton, and found about 100 grams of a greenish substance believed to be marijuana, along with cocaine, 140 rounds of 9 mm ammunition and a homemade revolver. No one was arrested and the army did not identify the owners of the house.
Police arrested Linder Antonio Q. G., known as alias “Titán,” in Santo Domingo on 4 November 2026 during an operation linked to alleged weapons and drug distribution. Authorities reported marijuana and firearms among the evidence, but accounts disagree on the amount seized and the arrest date.
Ecuador's National Police seized 26 grams of marijuana from a Quito-to-Manta parcel at Manta's bus terminal on 30 October 2026 after detector dog CUMI alerted. No one was detained; prosecutors opened an inquiry into the sender and recipient.
