QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuadorean Police on Thursday destroyed some 21.5 metric tons of cocaine which they seized over the weekend as part of a military offensive declared by the government to combat organized crime.

       The drugs were found on Sunday stored in hundreds of blocks in storage space built under a pig farm located in the city of Vinces, officials said. One person was arrested at the scene.

       Authorities used a technique known as encapsulation to destroy the drug, pulverizing the seized blocks with waste before mixing the resulting fine powder with cement, sand and glass.

       The method prevents cocaine from contaminating the environment or being recovered, authorities say.

       (Reporting by Tito Correa and Karen Toro; Writing by Oliver Griffin; editing by Jonathan Oatis)