Anti-narcotics agents in Ecuador on Wednesday arrested a female driver after stopping a truck near the Colombian border and finding 469 kilogrammes of cocaine marked with the name and image of Norway and Manchester City striker Erling Haaland.
Ecuador’s interior minister, John Reimberg, disclosed the arrest on Tuesday and shared footage showing the cocaine bricks coming out of a hidden compartment in the truck.
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.”
Police said the operation began on Tuesday after an anonymous tip-off. They added that they had not confirmed whether the shipment was linked to Haaland.
Officers stopped the vehicle on the Pan-American Highway in Guagua Negro, near Tulcán, 246 kilometres north of Quito.
A search uncovered 370 green rectangular cocaine bricks hidden inside a false bottom. The drugs were valued at £14.5m in Europe.
Police identified the arrested woman as María R, saying she had Colombian identity papers.
After the 2026 FIFA World Cup, where Haaland scored seven goals in four matches, his image appeared on billboards, trading cards and TV screens across Ecuador. Drug traffickers often use names of famous athletes and celebrities on shipments.
Argentine footballer Lionel Messi’s image had also appeared on a previously seized shipment.
