Las Ecuadorian Armed Forces and Police have seized 49.3 tons of drugs in joint operations since on January 9, the Government applied a state of emergency and decreed the “internal armed conflict” to stop the spiral of violence attributed to organized crime in the country.
This was reported by the so-called Security Axis, made up of military, police and Government commanders, in a daily report in which it also detailed that in the last 36 days, 2,352 firearms, 12,020 explosives, 163,179 ammunition, 1,233 feeders have been seized. (bullet magazines) and 3,333 edged weapons.
The Security Axis was established by the Government within the framework of the so-called Phoenix Plan against crime and protects the sixty-day state of emergency, which will end at the beginning of March.
Until now, 93,939 joint operations between police and military have been carried out throughout the country, which represents an average of 2,609.41 each day; 148 of them against criminal gangs now called terrorist groups by the authorities.
State security forces have so far detained 7,712 people in these operations, 241 of them on charges of terrorism.
In these operations, carried out both in prisons and on the streets of the country, security forces have killed 8 people whom they have identified as terrorists; Two members of the Police have died and no casualties have been recorded in the military ranks.
Agents have also recovered 979 vehicles, 896 motorcycles and 28 boats; in addition to $189,540.14 and 37,340 gallons of fuel (about 141,339 liters).
They have also achieved recapture 34 inmates of the almost 90 who escaped from prisons where, at the beginning of the year, several prisoner riots occurred, according to the daily statistics disseminated by the Security Axis.
After declaring the “internal armed conflict,” the Government of President Daniel Noboa identified at least 22 transnational organized crime groups and classified them “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 president of Ecuador was apparently preparing to launch his Phoenix Plan against crime.
In principle, this strategy sought to regain control of the prisons, many of them internally dominated by criminal groups, whose rivalries left more than 450 prisoners murdered since 2020 in a series of prison massacres.
However, prison violence 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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