Albanian mafia establishes Ecuador as cocaine gateway to Europe

Albanian criminal clans have established Ecuador as a strategic hub for transnational crime, utilizing the country as a gateway to supply cocaine to the growing European market. This expansion is driven by three primary factors: institutional weakness and corruption within control agencies, a dollarized economy with insufficient anti-money laundering controls, and a massive surge in cocaine demand in Europe, which has quadrupled over the last 15 years.

Since approximately 2009, Albanian groups have operated in Ecuador, often following the strategic interests of the Italian 'Ndrangheta mafia to secure direct access to Colombian cocaine. The coastal city of Guayaquil has become a central point for these operations due to its robust port infrastructure. Criminal organizations have increasingly utilized large-scale container exports, such as bananas, as a method to smuggle narcotics.

This shift marks a change from previous eras when law enforcement focused on small-scale shipments via speedboats to Central America and the United States. Currently, cocaine production in the region has more than doubled compared to a decade ago, with Colombian coca cultivation reaching an estimated 3,000 annual tons.