He raised the alarm on Thursday (23/3) to his police Equatorial which announced that its members found three severed human heads in Esmeralda province (northwest), near the border with Colombia, where a state of emergency has been imposed due to a wave of violent crime attributed to drug-trafficking gangs.
“We know that the people who were beheaded belonged to an organized crime gang here in EsmeraldasGeneral Fausto Buenanio said while speaking to the media.
The heads had multiple bullet wounds and were found in black bags. One of the victims was a teenager, the general of the police clarified, as reported by the Athens News Agency, citing AFP.
According to the top officer, gangs are engaged in recent settlement of accounts, they are trying to “eliminate” each other.
In the impoverished province of Esmeralda, which according to the government is among those with “the highest level of insecurity in the country”, a state of emergency was declared on March 3 by President Guillermo Lasso. As part of the measure, a traffic ban is imposed from 21:00 to 05:00.
Between Colombia and Peru, the two countries where the largest quantities of cocaine are produced in the world, Ecuador has been transformed in recent years from part of the transit routes into a major hub for the trafficking of the white powder to the European and American markets.
Authorities made record seizures in 2021: approached 210 tons. In 2022, seizures exceeded 200 tons for the second consecutive year. At the same time, the homicide rate took off, reaching 25 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2022, compared to 14 in 2021.
Mr Lasso’s government has declared “war” on gangs.
Source: News Beast
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