More of 11,000 arrests of people have been registered in Ecuador in the 53 days of the “internal armed conflict” that the president Daniel Noboa declared at the beginning of January against organized crime, whose gangs, dedicated mainly to drug trafficking, he began to consider as terrorist groups.
The number of detainees reached 11,193 in the latest daily balance published this Friday by the Government, of which 280 were captured accused of “terrorism”while the same report indicates that More than 64 tons of drugs have been seized.
So far the security forces have carried out 138,725 joint operations (more than 2,600 each day), 189 of them against criminal gangs now called terrorist groups by the authorities.
In addition, 3,371 firearms, more than 24,000 explosives, more than 227,000 bullets, 1,408 bullet magazines and more than 4,400 knives have been seized.
During the state of emergency, Law enforcement forces have killed twelve people whom they have identified as suspected terroriststhree members of the Police have died and no casualties have been recorded in the military ranks.
The agents have also seized from crime 979 vehicles, 1,255 motorcycles and 28 boats, including a semi-submersible to transport drugs, in addition to about $293,000 in cash.
The statistics maintain the figure of 34 recaptured inmates, of the almost 90 who escaped from the prisons where, at the beginning of the year, several prisoner riots occurred with 200 hostages between guards and police who managed to be released.
After declaring the “internal armed conflict,” the Government of President Daniel Noboa identified at least 22 transnational organized crime groups “as terrorist organizations” and “belligerent non-state actors.”
By identifying these groups as belligerents, the president opened a legal door for the Armed Forces together with the Police to act with all their resources to neutralize them.
The spiral of violence in Ecuador was unleashed when the Government was preparing to apply its “iron fist” policy to regain control of the prisons, many of them internally dominated by groups of criminals, whose rivalries have left more than 450 prisoners murdered since 2020. in a series of prison massacres.
This prison violence also took to the streets until Ecuador became one of the most violent countries, with 45 intentional homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023. EFE
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