Anti-narcotics agents in Ecuador, on Wednesday, arrested a female driver after intercepting a truck near the Colombian border and seizing a stash of 469 kilogrammes of cocaine, adorned with the name and image of Norway and Manchester City of England striker Erling Haaland.
Ecuador’s minister of interior, John Reimberg, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday, along with footage showing the bricks spilling out from the truck’s concealed compartment.
Mr Reimberg said, “The operation was carried out by the National Police in the Guagua Negro sector, in Tulcán, where a truck was intercepted containing 370 blocks of cocaine in a double bottom inside the vehicle. A Colombian citizen, María Camila Rosero Caicedo, was arrested during the procedure. Evidence: 370 blocks of cocaine, 01 vehicle, 01 mobile terminal. We continue working.”
The police said the operation began on Tuesday after an anonymous tip-off, but said they had yet to ascertain whether the shipment had any link with the footballer.
The police said the operatives stopped the suspicious vehicle on the Pan-American Highway in the Guagua Negro area, near the border city of Tulcán, 246 kilometres north of Quito.
While conducting a thorough search of the vehicle, they found 370 green rectangular bricks of cocaine, worth £14.5m in Europe, concealed within a false bottom.
The law enforcement officers also stated that the nabbed woman, identified as María R, held Colombian identity papers and was taken into custody.
Following his performance at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, during which he scored seven goals in four matches, Haaland’s face appeared on billboards, trading cards and television screens in Ecuador, where drug traffickers commonly label shipments with the names of popular athletes and celebrities.
The image of Argentine footballer Lionel Messi had previously appeared on another seized shipment.