The wife and children of Adolfo Macías Villamar, a wanted Ecuadorean gang leader known as Fito, have been detained and expelled from Argentina.
Argentina’s security minister emphasized that the action sends a clear message that the country is unwelcoming to narco-criminals.
Fito escaped from an Ecuadorean prison earlier this month, leading to a nationwide search in Ecuador, which is currently under a state of emergency.
Authorities in Argentina released footage of individuals with links to Fito being escorted by police on an air force plane.
The detainees, totaling eight individuals, including associates and family members, were apprehended at a property in the region of Córdoba and subsequently returned to Ecuador.
Argentina’s Interior Minister stressed that the country will not harbor criminals.
This development coincides with Ecuador’s ongoing efforts to locate Fito and address the gang-related disorder contributing to the country’s crisis. Fito, the leader of the Los Choneros gang, is accused of orchestrating previous prison violence and disappeared from his cell in Guayaquil.
Fito, who is head of the Los Choneros gang and has been accused of orchestrating earlier prison violence, vanished from his cell in a facility in the city of Guayaquil.
Adolfo Macías Villamar – known as Fito – being detained by policeImage source, Reuters
Image caption,
Fito’s escape and subsequent attempts to capture him ignited a wave of gang violence across Ecuador
He has also been linked to the murder of Fernando Villavicencio, an anti-corruption presidential candidate who was shot dead last August.
In the aftermath of the escape, Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa declared war on the country’s gangs and imposed tough security conditions, a stance which has been met with unprecedented levels of violence by Ecuador’s gangs.
Earlier this week, authorities said they had regained control of the country’s prisons after days of rioting – but the country’s most wanted fugitive remains elusive.
Mr Noboa has called on authorities in neighbouring Colombia – where several powerful drug cartels are based – to begin searching for Fito, according to AFP news agency.
He has also reiterated plans to deport foreign criminals in a bid to alleviate overcrowding in Ecuador’s volatile prisons.
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