Huge cocaine haul seized off coast of the Galapagos

Ecuador seized 1.9 tonnes of cocaine off the coast of the Galapagos Islands, as traffickers ply new routes to smuggle their illicit cargo, officials said on Sunday.

The operation conducted Thursday and Friday -- part of a joint effort by police and the Ecuadoran navy -- intercepted the equivalent of more than seven million individual doses of the contraband drug, the interior ministry announced.

The shipment had an estimated street value of some $40 million.

Traffickers, many based in Colombia, are exploiting a vast and expanding swath of ocean, from one end of the Americas to the other, for the illicit drug trade, officials said.

The cocaine seized last week appeared to have traveled from coastal areas near the border of Colombia and Ecuador.

The Galapagos archipelago, located 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) west of Ecuador, has a fragile ecosystem that harbors the largest number of different animal species on the planet.

It has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.