Ecuador's Coast Guard teams patrol and search vessels in the Gulf of Guayaquil amid rising violence in the coastal city, Ecuador's main seaport. Illegal groups seek to use merchant ships carrying containers bound for Europe and the United States to smuggle "drugs, weapons, fuel," explains a Navy officer aboard one boat. Patrols and operations have intensified in recent weeks, driven by a worrying resurgence of violence in the coastal city of Guayaquil, Ecuador's main maritime port. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES