Ecuador: judge sends 15 suspected members of the Los Lobos gang to preventive detention

A judge of Ecuador issued preventive detention orders, for investigation purposes, against 15 people who were detained on Friday in the city of Valencia, in the coastal province of Los Ríos, accused of being part of the Organized Crime Group (GDO) known as Los Lobos.

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The information was reported this Saturday by the Attorney General’s Office, specifying that the arrest order against the suspects was reached thanks to the evidence presented by the Public Ministry at the hearing.

“Based on the evidence presented by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the judge ordered the preventive detention of 15 alleged members of the GDO.”The Wolves‘, who were arrested yesterday in Valencia. Terrorism charges were filed against them”, added the Public Ministry in a message from its account on the X network.

The arrest of the suspects took place within the scope of joint actions carried out by the military and police within the scope of the application of the state of emergency and the “internal armed conflict”, declared by the president of the country, Daniel Noboato put an end to the extreme violence unleashed by organized crime groups at the beginning of the year.

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By declaring the “internal armed conflict”, Noboa identified at least 22 organized crime groups transnational organizations and positioned them “as terrorist organizations” and “belligerent non-state actors”.

By identifying these groups as belligerents, the Executive opened a legal door for the Armed Forces, together with the Police, to act with all their resources to neutralize them.

The spiral of violence was triggered shortly after President Noboa announced his decision to implement a plan to regain control of prisons, many of which are internally dominated by criminal groups, whose rivalries have left more than 450 prisoners murdered since 2020 in a series of prison massacres.

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

During the prison riots that occurred at the end of December and beginning of January, around 90 prisoners escaped, including Fabricio Colón Pico, considered the alleged leader of Los Lobos.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.