Ecuadorian police found the remains of three people wrapped in black bags in a coastal province bordering Colombia, Ecuadorian authorities said on March 24, the Malay Mail reports.
The province of Esmeraldas, which according to President Guillermo Lasso, has “the highest level of insecurity in the country”It has been under a state of emergency since early March due to an upsurge in drug-related violence.
According to Police General Fausto Buenano, two of the three victims found have been identified. “These beheaded people are known to belong to an (organized crime group) here in Esmeraldas”Buenaño said. — “We assume that (gang members) destroy each other, perhaps for power, for the sake of greater distribution”.
Since March 3, freedom of movement in Esmeraldas is restricted from 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.
For the second time in less than six months, a state of emergency is declared in the province.
In November, Lasso imposed a state of emergency and a night curfew after a series of attacks in retaliation for the transfer of some prisoners.
Lasso has declared war on the drug gangs that control the drug trade from prisons beset by extreme violence and riots that break out between rival gangs.
Ecuador, located between Colombia and Peru, experienced a sharp increase in drug trafficking and homicides last year.
The homicide rate jumped from 14 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2021 to 25 the following year, while drug seizures went from 120 tons to more than 200 tons in the same period.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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