Two suspects fled after Ecuador’s National Police stopped a single-cab pickup carrying marijuana on the Esmeraldas–San Lorenzo highway in the early hours of 22 July 2026.[1] The driver and a companion ignored the order to stop, tried to escape and fired several shots at the officers during the chase.[1] Officers shot out one of the pickup’s tyres to stop it, but the two occupants abandoned the vehicle and fled in an unknown direction.[1] No one was arrested, and the National Police said investigative steps were under way to identify and locate those responsible.[2] The intervention happened during a mobile checkpoint by the Bloque de Seguridad, Ecuador’s joint police and military security bloc.[1]

Officers found 319.228 kilograms of marijuana inside the vehicle, which the police reported as 319,228 grams.[1] The National Police put the load at approximately 638,456 doses.[2] Police valued the marijuana at US$247,401.70 on the national market and US$1,276,912 on the international market.[1] The National Police’s own statement recorded the load as 319.228 kilograms of marijuana with an estimated international market value of US$1,276,912.[2]

Preliminary field tests identified the substance as marijuana, and it was entered into the custody chain.[2] Police said investigations were continuing to establish the load’s origin and destination and to identify those responsible.[2] The operation was carried out under the Estrategia Operacional 3D, the National Police’s operational strategy against criminal economies, following intelligence work.[2] Criminalistics specialists and the Anti-Narcotics Investigation Headquarters collected the evidence and moved the marijuana to the anti-narcotics warehouses of the Esmeraldas police sub-zone.[1] The Ministry of the Interior announced the seizure in Esmeraldas province, which borders Colombia, on 22 July 2026.[3] The ministry said the operation kept more than 638,000 doses off the illegal market.[3]