A group of people Argentina says are linked to Adolfo Macías were seen landing in Ecuador. Image: EPA
Adolfo Macías’s family is expelled from Argentina-Ecuador.
A wanted Ecuadorian gang leader’s wife and kids have been arrested and banished from Argentina.
According to Argentina’s security minister, the action taken against the Villamar family of Adolfo Macías demonstrated that the nation is a “hostile territory for narco-criminals”.
Fito, the gang leader, escaped from an Ecuadorian prison earlier this month and is currently at large.
As the national hunt for the leader of the organised crime group continues, Ecuador has declared a state of emergency.
On Friday, Argentine authorities made public video showing multiple individuals they claim are connected to Fito being escorted by police on an air force aircraft.
They were held in a house in the Córdoba region, according to Argentine Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, who said at a press conference that they had been sent back to Ecuador.
She added that a total of eight people, including family members and acquaintances, were deported.
Guillermo Francos, the interior minister, declared that Argentina would “not be a den for criminals”.
The action is being taken while the Ecuadorian government searches for Fito and works to contain gang-related disorder that has erupted and brought the nation to a standstill.
Fito’s escape and subsequent attempts to capture him ignited a wave of gang violence across Ecuador. Image: REUTERS
Fito, the leader of the Los Choneros gang and a man charged with planning previous acts of violence inside prisons, disappeared from his cell in a Guayaquil facility.
Additionally, he has been connected to the August 2017 shooting death of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who opposed corruption.
Following the escape, President Daniel Noboa of Ecuador proclaimed war on the nation’s gangs and enforced strict security measures.
The gangs have responded to this declaration with never-before-seen levels of brutality.
After days of riots, officials declared last week that they had retaken control of the nation’s prisons; nevertheless, the nation’s most sought fugitive is still at large.
According to the AFP news agency, Mr. Noboa has urged authorities in adjacent Colombia, home to a number of potent drug cartels, to start looking for Fito.
In an effort to reduce jail overcrowding in Ecuador’s unstable facilities, he has also restated his intention to deport foreign criminals.