QUITO, Ecuador– A fugitive drug trafficker desired by authorities in Ecuador and the USA was regained greater than a year after he got away from jail in the Andean country, Ecuadorian Head of state Daniel Noboa revealed Wednesday.
José Adolfo MacÃas, alias “Fito,” that led a gang called “Los Choneros” in Ecuador and has actually been indicted in New York City on costs he imported hundreds of extra pounds of drug right into the USA, was recorded in the Ecuadorian city of Manta, his home town, authorities in Ecuador claimed.
Interpol had actually provided an apprehension warrant for Macias after hi s mysterious prison escape in early 2024 from the Guayaquil Regional Jail, where he was offering a 34-year sentence for medicine trafficking. Ecuadorian authorities have yet to discuss exactly how he got away. They just discovered of his retreat when an armed forces contingent shown up to move him to one more maximum-security jail yet really did not locate him in his cell.
The Ecuadorian military verified Macias’ regain in what seemed the cellar of a residence. A video clip given by the military revealed the minute of the apprehension, with a uniformed police officer intending a weapon ahead of the medicine trafficker, that provided his complete name. The police officers had actually discovered him concealing in a tiny opening below what seemed a kitchen area counter.
Wednesday’s statement of his apprehension can be found in the exact same week that Federico Gómez, alias “Fede,” the leader of one more gang called Las Aguilas, was verified to have actually run away from an Ecuadorian jail.
In 2014, united state Lawyer John Durham claimed in a press release that Macias led Los Choneros and its “network of assassins and medicine and tool traffickers” because a minimum of 2020.
With a considerable rap sheet consisting of costs of murder and arranged criminal offense, MacÃas has actually grown a cult condition amongst fellow gang participants and the general public in his home nation.
While behind bars in 2023, he launched a video clip resolved to “the Ecuadorian individuals” while flanked by armed guys. He likewise tossed celebrations behind bars, where he had accessibility to whatever from alcohol to fowls for cockfighting suits.
The seven-count charge unsealed in Brooklyn costs MacÃas and an unknown co-defendant with global drug circulation, conspiracy theory and tools matters, consisting of contraband guns from the USA.
Los Choneros used individuals to acquire guns, elements and ammo in the USA and smuggle them right into Ecuador, according to the charge. Drug would certainly move right into the USA with the assistance of Mexican cartels.
” Los Choneros ran a substantial network in charge of the delivery and circulation of multi-ton amounts of drug from South America via Central America and Mexico to the USA and somewhere else,” the charge states.
In 2014, the united state identified Los Choneros as one of one of the most terrible gangs and attested its link to effective Mexican drug cartels that endanger Ecuador and the surrounding area.
Authorities in Ecuador have actually identified the gang as a terrorist company. Previously this month, the Ecuadorian federal government revealed the benefit for the capture of MacÃas would certainly be raised to $1 million.
