Ecuador ECUADOR

Region: Americas
National Central Bureau: Quito
Member since: 19 September 1962
How INTERPOL supports Ecuador to tackle international crime.

Tackling transnational crime in Ecuador

Ecuador is located in the northern part of South America with a coast on the Pacific Ocean. It includes the Galapagos islands, which attract hundreds of thousands of tourists every year.

This strategic geography makes Ecuador attractive to national and international organized crime groups wanting to engage in environmental crime, trafficking in drugs and human beings, and cybercrime.

With regional organized crime networks invariably operating on a global level, the role of Ecuador’s INTERPOL’s National Central Bureau (NCB) in Quito is crucial to safeguarding national and regional security.

INTERPOL in Ecuador

The Quito NCB is part of the Criminal Investigations Department of Ecuador’s National Police. It provides around the clock services to front line officers nationwide, serving as their exclusive national platform for working with law enforcement partners in the rest of the world.

By providing globally-sourced intelligence about regional crime, the NCB helps police officers across the country to detect and investigate the flow of illicit goods along trafficking routes in and around the country. It plays a central role in preventing the country and surrounding region from serving international organized crime.

NCB Quito is an operational unit, meaning NCB police staff can exercise police power across the country on behalf of the national police, including the power of arrest. The Head of NCB answers directly to the Police Chief.

National police and border control have real-time access to INTERPOL databases so they can detect if suspects or travelers are wanted by INTERPOL or traveling on a stolen passport.

Law enforcement in Ecuador

Law enforcement services in Ecuador are provided by the national police, called “Policía Nacional del Ecuador”. The police force is part of the Ministry of Interior.

The National Police is in charge of public security, law and order and criminal police investigations throughout Ecuador.

INTERPOL Ecuador
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