[1/6] Workers carry a mix of seized cocaine and coca paste with industrial waste to produce cement slurry to be used in a construction, at a waste treatment plant at an undisclosed location, in Ecuador February 10, 2023. REUTERS/Karen ToroQUITO, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Huge quantities of seized drugs in Ecuador are presenting the Andean country with an unlikely new construction material: cocaine. The amount of drugs seized in Ecuador almost doubled in 2021 versus the previous year to more than 210 tonnes, mostly cocaine, according to the country's police. So far some 350 tonnes of crushed cocaine and coca paste - a cocaine precursor - seized between 2021 and 2022 have been used to fill the hole, according to plant technicians. Some 83 tonnes of cocaine are waiting to be encapsulated.

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