More than 1,500 weapons and 8,300 explosives seized during the state of emergency in Ecuador

The Armed Forces and the Police Ecuador They seized more than 1,500 firearms and more than 8,300 explosives in joint operations, since on January 9th the Government declared a state of emergency and “internal armed conflict”to stop the spiral of violence attributed to organized crime in the country.

He Security Axismade up of military, police and government commanders, indicated in its latest daily report that a total of 1,543 firearms and 8,364 explosives, in addition to 84,164 bullets, 996 feeders (bullet magazines) and 1,975 knives.

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The Security Axis was established by the Government within the scope of the so-called ‘Phoenix Plan‘and protect the “Exception status” of sixty days that will end at the beginning of March.

So far, this plan has carried out 57,803 operations across the country, 92 of them against criminal gangs now called terrorist groups by the authorities, and in total arrested 4,680 people, 237 of them on terrorism charges.

In these operations, carried out both in prisons and on the streets of the country, two police officers died and no casualties were recorded in the military ranks.

Agents also recovered 872 vehicles, 585 motorcycles and 28 boats; in addition to US$92,026, 40.2 tons of drugs and 30,356 gallons of fuel (about 114,903 liters).

They also managed to recapture 34 inmates of the almost 90 who escaped from prisons where, at the beginning of the year, several prisoner riots took place.

When 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”.

According to experts, classifying these groups as belligerents opened a legal door for the Armed Forces, together with the Police, to work with all their resources to neutralize them.

The spiral of violence in Ecuador was triggered when apparently the president of Ecuador was preparing to launch his ‘Phoenix Plan‘.

In principle, this strategy sought to regain control of prisons, many of which were internally dominated by criminal groups, whose rivalries left more than 450 prisoners murdered since 2020 in a series of prison massacres.

This extreme violence also took to the streets last year, transforming Ecuador in one of the most violent countries, with 45 intentional homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023.

Source: Elcomercio

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