QUITO, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Ecuador on Thursday extradited two drug traffickers to the United States, where they are wanted by authorities on charges related to illicit drug selling, Interior Minister John Reimberg said.

In a social media post, the Ecuadorian minister identified the suspects as Omar Auseno B. and Nirama G., who local media reported were a couple and had arrived in Ecuador in 2001.

"The criminals were arrested by the National Police on Feb. 27, 2025, and are wanted by a court in Miami, Florida. They will follow the relevant legal process in that country," Reimberg said.

He specified that Auseno and Nirama were "two of the biggest Colombian-Ecuadorian drug traffickers," and were successors to Edison Washington P. A., a powerful Ecuadorian drug trafficker captured in Colombia in 2017.

Reimberg added the two had "taken over drug shipments to Central America, Mexico and the United States."

Auseno and Nirama are the latest drug traffickers extradited to the United States following Ecuador's extradition of Adolfo Macias Villama, considered one of Ecuador's main drug traffickers and leader of the criminal gang Los Choneros, who was handed over to U.S. authorities in July.

Ecuador has stepped up its fight against drug trafficking gangs since President Daniel Noboa declared a state of "internal armed conflict" in January 2024 due to an escalation of violence in the South American country. ■