Quito, Oct 10 (IANS): Ecuador has seized 42.9 tonnes of illicit drugs so far this year, including 37 tonnes of cocaine, the head of the National Anti-Narcotics Directorate Genera Juan Barragan said Wednesday.

The figure already surpassed the total amount of drugs confiscated in 2012, which was 42.8 tonnes, reported Xinhua citing Barragan.

"The cooperation of the public has been instrumental in the war on drug trafficking," he said, adding that "the most important thing is to dismantle the criminal rings to guarantee security, more (important) than the quantity of drugs seized".

He revealed that intelligence work had uncovered "phantom companies that operate by shipping containers of drugs abroad" from Ecuador's ports.

In the past two months, authorities have seized drugs from Mexican, Colombian and Peruvian organizations, and though Barragan didn't specify the size of those seizures, he described the amounts of cocaine leaving Ecuador as "low" in comparison.