A suspect plane carrying over $4 million in cash crashed in northwest Ecuador, killing two Mexican citizens on board, in an indication of the importance of the country as a drug transhipment point and money laundering location.

Security forces captured an alleged leader of the FARC's 48th Front in northern Ecuador, an area that has long been a key center of logistics for the rebels' Southern Bloc.

Ecuador's government is planning to increase the armed forces' involvement in law enforcement, a move which, although a practical response to rising crime, could have serious political consequences.

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa yesterday admitted that Colombia’s largest rebel group could be operating within his country’s borders, vowing to confront them with law enforcement and security forces.

Ecuador's president has called organized crime the number one target for the country's military, in a sign that he is planning to expand the force's internal security role.

Ecuador destroyed some 411,000 poppy plants in a central province, in another indication that heroin production could be on the rise in the Andean country.

Colombian drug gang the Rastrojos may now control almost all the drug trafficking routes in Ecuador, shipping their product to Mexican groups like the Zetas and the Sinaloa Cartel, according to reports.

Allegations that Ecuador’s lax immigration policies make it a strategic asset to terrorist organizations like al Qaeda are overblown, overshadowing the real danger: that the country is emerging as a hotspot for transnational organized crime.

Ecuador has arrested, and swiftly deported, one of the brothers that head Colombia's powerful Rastrojos gang, again showing how many of Colombia's capos prefer to reside outside of the country.

Ecuador found a coca plantation miles away from the Colombia border where the crop is usually concentrated, suggesting that production levels may be increasing inside the country.