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A record cocaine seizure by Russian authorities reflects recent reports that the country is now one of the main destinations for shipments leaving Ecuador, which is the world's largest exporter of the drug.
The Federal Security Service (FSB) announced September 19 that it had made Russia’s largest-ever bust, releasing a video of 1,515 kg of cocaine in 1,500 bricks hidden inside banana boxes shipped from Ecuador to the Port of Saint Petersburg.
The bust highlighted the findings of an intelligence report obtained by OCCRP that said "Russia has become an important player" in the “diversification” of routes used by drug traffickers to avoid increasingly strict controls in Western Europe.
“This shift highlights the flexibility of criminal organizations to adapt to barriers imposed by security forces and to expand their operations into more lucrative markets," said the report by the International Center of Research and Analysis Against Maritime Drug Trafficking (CIMCON).
More than seven metric tons of cocaine originating from Ecuador were seized in Russia during the first half of 2024, according to CIMCON, a Colombian Navy intelligence initiative that includes researchers and naval officers from other countries.
The CIMCON analysis stated that Mexico and Spain were the two top destinations for drugs leaving Ecuador while Russia has emerged as the third leading country.
Those findings are echoed by the World Customs Organization (WCO), a Brussels-based intergovernmental group. A June WCO report analyzed 2,252 drug detections in shipping containers worldwide in 2023 and 2024, and also highlighted the growing pattern of cocaine traffic to Russia.
The majority of the cocaine arriving in Russia chronicled by the WCO report was stashed in banana cargo. Five metric tons of cocaine were seized in banana crates coming from Ecuador to Russia in 2023, while 12 metric tons were seized in crates in 2024.
Ecuador is now the largest global exporter of both cocaine and bananas, according to analysis by organizations including the WCO.
“It is likely that Russian organized crime groups are increasingly looking to exploit their banana trade with Ecuador to fuel both increased domestic cocaine consumption and the stockpiling of cocaine to be funnelled into lucrative Western European markets,” said the WCO report.
Russia has become the largest single-country buyer of Ecuadorian bananas, purchasing 1.5 million metric tons during 2024 and the first half of 2025. Russia was only surpassed by the European Union, according to a report from Ecuador's main banana export association (AEBE)
Bananas are a preferred product for concealing illegal drugs shipped in containerized cargo, according to the WCO. In the period studied by the organization, bananas were the reported cargo of roughly 35 percent of commodity-designated containers where drugs were found.
The cocaine in Russia’s record bust last week was transported on a ship named Cool Emerald from the Port of Guayaquil, according to information released by the FSB.
In consulting global maritime traffic data, OCCRP found that a Panamanian flagged ship named Cool Emerald departed August 10 from Libertador Simón Bolívar Container and Multipurpose Terminal, which is located in the Port of Guayaquil and operated by the private company Contecon.
Contecon did not reply to a request for comment before publication.
According to the maritime traffic data, Cool Emerald arrived in Saint Petersburg 19 days after leaving Ecuador.
The Port of Guayaquil was described as “high risk” for infiltration and corruption in a 2024 European Union security assessment prepared by a Danish consultancy, which cited the murders of a security officer and the kidnapping of a scanner operator.
Both victims were among a “high number” of people linked to the workforce of the Port of Guayaquil who are vulnerable to threats and coercion from organized crime.
