Operation Shadow: 14 arrested members of Los Lobos Box gang during curfew in El Oro
Ecuador's police captured 14 alleged members of the Los Lobos Box gang during the third night-time curfew of the year in El Oro province.
Fourteen arrested in El Oro during anti-crime operation in Ecuador
Ecuadorian police detained 14 alleged members of the Los Lobos Box gang in El Oro province, an area coveted by criminal groups for its port and mining activity, according to tvn-2.com citing statements by Interior Minister John Reimberg.
The arrests took place as part of the third night-time curfew of the year, decreed by the government in the country's most conflict-ridden areas as part of its offensive against organised crime.
Reimberg announced on X that the operation, named "Shadow", dismantled a network dedicated to extortion, murder, robbery and drug trafficking in the municipalities of Machala and Pasaje. According to the minister, those detained also have links to the use of minors for illicit activities.
Despite successive curfews and states of exception, violence continues unabated in the country. President Daniel Noboa travelled on Thursday to El Oro—a province bordering Peru—to receive a report on the results of the first day of the measure.
The new offensive comes days after a visit to Quito by United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who praised Ecuador as a "loyal" ally in the anti-drugs fight and announced a contribution of 45 million dollars in security funds.
In a radio interview, Noboa stated that "this war costs the country more than 1,500 million dollars per year" and noted that criminal groups "have sought to establish themselves and fight against the State and against the citizens themselves".
In addition to the curfew, the president declared a state of exception in eight provinces and suspended the rights to the inviolability of home and correspondence in the areas affected by the measures.
Source: Google News EC — Crime