General Cesar Zapata, the head of the national police, told a news conference that the country's armed forces had determined that one of the most dangerous prisoners in Guayaquil prison was missing.
Police forces suppress riots at El Inca prison on January 8, 2024. Photo: Reuters
Although Zapata did not identify the escaped prisoner, the prosecutor's office said it would investigate the "alleged prison break" of Jose Adolfo Macias, leader of the Los Choneros crime group.
Macias, who goes by the alias "Fito", was sentenced to 34 years in prison in 2011 for various crimes, including drug trafficking and murder.
Notably, last August, Ecuador had to deploy nearly 4,000 soldiers and police into a prison to hunt down and capture Fito, to transfer him to a higher-security prison. But in the end, this gang leader has now escaped again.
Ecuador had to mobilize thousands of police in August 2023 to arrest Fito even though he was... in prison. Photo: GI
Los Choneros is a criminal organization that authorities have linked to extortion, murder and drug trafficking among other crimes and is accused of controlling the country's main prisons.
“I have just signed a decree declaring a state of emergency so that the Armed Forces have full political and legal support for their actions. The days when drug traffickers, assassins and organized criminals dictate to the government what to do are over,” said President Noboa.
The state of emergency and related events are one of the first major security challenges for Mr. Noboa, a young businessman who took office in November, promising to crack down on rising levels of violence in the South American country.
Ecuador's prison authority also said on Monday that there had been "incidents" in six of the country's overcrowded prisons, where clashes between rival gangs have frequently occurred and left more than 400 inmates dead since 2021.
Mai Anh (according to Reuters)
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