In an operation conducted at the beginning of October in Ecuador, 748 kilograms of cocaine, stated to be intended for shipment to Turkey, were seized. It was stated that the street value of the drugs, which were hidden in cement sacks inside two containers at the Posorja Port in Guayaquil, is approximately 35 million dollars in the European market.
According to information provided by Mustafa Özdemir, an independent journalist working in Venezuela, the operation is noteworthy not only as a drug shipment but also in terms of allegations regarding Turkey's role in cocaine networks stretching from Latin America to Europe. Colombian intelligence reports and assessments reflected in regional media suggest that Turkey has become one of the hubs used for cocaine shipments and the transfer of criminal proceeds.
EMPHASIS ON TURKEY IN REPORTS
Reports attributed to the Colombian National Intelligence Directorate (DNI) state that while Dubai stood out for a long time in drug trafficking and money laundering activities, Spain and Turkey have recently been identified as new hubs. News reports in the Ecuadorian newspaper Primicias and the Colombian press also included allegations that the financial management centers of cocaine networks are shifting from Dubai to Turkey.
About a week after the seizure of the cocaine stated to be intended for Turkey, the Ecuadorian police, in coordination with Europol and Spanish security units, conducted the Gran Fénix-Cantabria operation. Within the scope of the operation, 23 addresses were searched and 21 people were detained. Investigators are linking 14 separate cocaine seizures totaling 42.5 tons in Ecuador, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, and the Netherlands to the same structure.
It was reported that Jackson Felipe Zambrano stands out among those detained. According to Ecuadorian authorities, Zambrano is one of the main financiers of "Pipo," known as the leader of the Los Lobos gang, and one of the representatives in Ecuador of a structure called "Nueva Junta del Narcotráfico" (NJN). According to the definition by Colombian intelligence, the NJN is more of a horizontal network bringing together Colombian producers, the Balkan mafia, and Ecuadorian logistics groups than a classic hierarchical cartel. However, the existence of this structure is controversial in Colombia; the Attorney General's Office had previously announced that there was no evidence of such an organization.
Assessments regarding why Turkey is seen as attractive for these networks list topics such as the opportunity to obtain citizenship through real estate investment, the ease of entry and residency processes, its logistical location between Europe and Asia, and the constitutional regulation that prevents the extradition of Turkish citizens to foreign countries. The Ministry of Interior announced in August that an operation was conducted in 16 provinces against a network stated to have provided irregular citizenship through fake real estate appraisal reports; as a result of the investigations, it was announced that the citizenship of 1,413 investors and 6,134 people including their families had been canceled or revoked.
The Turkey connection had also come to the agenda in some international organized crime files in past years. Dritan Rexhepi, who is stated to be the leader of the Albanian Kompania Bello network, one of the known names of the Ecuador-Europe cocaine line, was caught in Beylikdüzü, Istanbul in 2023 and extradited to Albania in January 2025. Regarding Los Lobos leader Pipo, an allegation was made by former Ecuadorian Interior Minister José Serrano that he "managed his activities from the Netherlands or Turkey"; the Turkish Ministry of Interior had announced at that time that Pipo had no legal entry-exit records for Turkey.
References are also made to official investigations in Turkey regarding money laundering allegations. The Ministry of Interior announced in November 2023 that the Australia-based international drug organization called Comanchero was trying to launder criminal proceeds in Turkey, and reported that assets belonging to 55 suspects worth approximately 4.5 billion liras were seized in line with MASAK reports.
The convergence of destination ports and the financial instruments used for payments in the same geography provides a major cost advantage. This turns Turkey into a kind of operations center for organized crime.
According to Renato Rivera, Director of the Ecuadorian Organized Crime Observatory and GI-TOC analyst, Turkey's increasing role is also linked to the shifting of routes to alternative ports as inspections tighten in major European ports. However, Rivera approaches the allegations that the financial center has completely shifted to Istanbul with caution and states that the main negotiation center is still Dubai.
Questions regarding who would take delivery of the 748 kilograms of cocaine seized in Posorja in Turkey remain unanswered. In Özdemir's report, it was stated that no response had yet been received to questions directed to Ecuadorian authorities regarding the recipient of the shipment and the course of the investigation.
News Source: 12punto
