El Salvador has disrupted a regional drug trafficking route after security forces intercepted a vessel carrying a large shipment of illicit drugs along the Pacific coast. The operation took place at the mouth of the Jiboa River, on the border between the departments of San Vicente and La Paz.
According to Minister of Security and Justice Gustavo Villatoro, the seizure was the result of coordinated work by the STORM unit of the Salvadoran National Civil Police. Authorities confiscated 375 kilograms of drugs with an estimated market value of $9.4 million, effectively halting the shipment before it could continue along its criminal route.
“Our Pacific Wall is becoming increasingly solid, and every operation sends a clear message to criminal structures: this country will not be a platform for organized crime,” Villatoro stated on his X account.
Two suspects were arrested during the intervention: Ubaldo Reyes Juarez, a Salvadoran national, and Rony Eduardo Morales Fajardo, a Guatemalan national. Officers also seized two mobile phones and a GPS device. Investigations confirmed the vessel had departed from Nicaragua and was headed toward Guatemala.
“We remain firm. El Salvador is not and will not be a bridge for drug trafficking,” the minister added, reinforcing the country’s stance against transnational organized crime.