I spent a month in the 'murder capital of the world' hunting down Albanian cocaine traffickers: STEPHEN WRIGHT revisits the 'most dangerous assignment' of his career on latest On The Case podcast

On the latest episode of On The Case, host Alex Matthews is joined by former Daily Mail crime editor Stephen Wright to discuss the 'most dangerous assignment' of his career, close to a month spent in Ecuador.Wright visited the South American port city of Guayaquil in late 2022, investigating its links to the cocaine trade in Britain. Over the previous decade, Albanian gangs had joined forces with Ecuadorian organised crime to ship drugs to Europe from the city.Cocaine is produced in neighbouring Colombia, and in Bolivia, then moved to the city for shipping. As Wright explains, changes to Ecuador's residency rules made it easier for Albanians to obtain passports and settle there, posing as legitimate businessmen.From there they set up front companies exporting goods to Europe, giving them cover to operate in the ports. As the city became a vital hub in the global supply of cocaine, extreme violence and corruption have followed.On the latest episode of On The Case, Alex Matthews is joined by crime editor Stephen Wright to discuss the 'most dangerous assignment' of his career, close to a month spent in Ecuador'Going around in taxis or fixer's cars, walking down the street with a motorbike coming up behind you, you can get a bit twitchy,' Wright told On The Case.'Life is cheap over there and you don't know who you have potentially upset. I wrote in my dispatch for the Daily Mail that you could have a judge assassinated for the equivalent of just £4,000.'To put that in context, in the UK, I imagine the starting price for a contract on a judge would be upwards of £250,000 because of the risk involved.'Not being flippant, but for a visiting journalist, I imagine it'd be a lot less to put a price on my head if I upset somebody.'While in Guayaquil, Wright interviewed a local gang member, a state prosecutor and Ecuador's national anti narcotics chief. He also interviewed a former drug dealer in Brighton who had worked for the Albanian gangs, to get a sense of the full supply chain.Wright recounts how the interview with Ecuador's then anti narcotics chief Pablo Ramirez left him uneasy.He said: 'There was a very senior law enforcement figure who I had suspicions about, who I met during my trip. Those suspicions were vindicated later.'He asked me which hotel I was staying at, and I managed to fudge my answer and move the conversation on. I wasn't comfortable about why that person wanted to know which hotel I was in.'That individual was subsequently arrested, charged and convicted in relation to organised crime. Jailed for nine years and four months.'It's a dangerous place and you have to tread carefully and it would have been helpful to have eyes in the back of my head.'Ramirez was arrested in December 2023 and convicted of organised crime, over favours granted to a jailed drug trafficker while running the country's prison service. He was sentenced in November 2024. As the Guayaquil became a vital hub in the global supply of cocaine, extreme violence and corruption have followed While in Guayaquil, Wright interviewed a local gang member, a state prosecutor and Ecuador's national anti narcotics chiefEcuadorian gangs gave the Albanians something they lacked: the local connections to bribe dock workers and get containers loaded.Wright spoke to a man his fixer identified as a member of the Latin Kings, one of the gangs operating in Guayaquil.Known only as Junior, he agreed to talk on condition he was not named or pictured, and his voice was altered for broadcast.Wright explained how the partnership worked.'Ecuador is like a transit point,' he said.'Organised crime groups from Albania saw a window of opportunity and ruthlessly exploited it.'They went into partnership with Junior's gang to facilitate the bribery and corruption of the people in the docks… The Albanians got a foothold with the local gangs, and it works for them both really.'Hear Wright's full account of what he found in Ecuador by subscribing to The Crime Desk. New subscribers gain access to On The Case, the Trial+ and much more.