oh Ecuador's president, Daniel Noboa, confirmed this Monday that the country's biggest drug-trafficking leader had escaped prison.
The escape took place on Sunday, the same day the Ministry of Public Affairs announced that it had opened an investigation into the case and the President called an emergency meeting of the Council of State and Public Security.
In light of the escape of Jose Adolfo Macias Salazar, better known as 'Fito', the leader of the country's main organized crime groups, Daniel Noboa announced that the country would enter a new 'state of emergency'. Armed forces. The move, for example, allows entry into homes, affects traffic flow on public roads and imposes mandatory curfews.
“I have signed the emergency law so that the armed forces will have full political and legal support in taking action. We will not negotiate with terrorists and we will not rest until peace returns to the people of Ecuador,” the president said. A video was posted on social media.
Officials, who took some time to admit the criminals had escaped, revealed some 3,000 security agents were on the streets in what they described as an urgent search for Ecuador's “most wanted prisoner”.
'Fito' is said to be the leader of Los Soneros, considered by Ecuadorian authorities to be one of the country's largest criminal groups, with alleged links to Mexican cartels.
The group Los Soneros emerged in the 1990s in the city of Son, in the coastal province of Manabi, and gradually became stronger in drug-trafficking routes, particularly in the transportation of cocaine transported by sea from Colombia to North America.
According to police reports, the group is currently involved in crimes such as drug trafficking, extortion, murder and arms trafficking, and is involved in conflicts with rival gangs Los Lobos and Los Dicurones, including in prisons.
© Ecuadorian Armed Forces/Social Networks
Check out the images in the gallery above that show the key step in catching a 'fito'.
Read more: Ecuador launches investigation into alleged gang leader's prison escape
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