José Adolfo Macías Villamar, a fugitive drug trafficker often called Fito and needed by authorities in Ecuador and the USA, was recaptured greater than a 12 months after he escaped from jail within the Andean nation, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa introduced Wednesday.
Macías, who led a gang referred to as “Los Choneros” in Ecuador, was captured within the Ecuadorian metropolis of Manta, his hometown, officers in Ecuador stated. In April, He was indicted in New York Metropolis on costs he imported 1000’s of kilos of cocaine into the USA.
“Extra will fall, we’ll reclaim the nation. No truce,” Noboa stated in an X put up saying Macías’ arrest. “We now have carried out our half to proceed with Fito’s extradition to the USA, we’re awaiting their response.”
Interpol had issued an arrest warrant for Macias after his mysterious jail escape in early 2024 from the Guayaquil Regional Jail, the place he was serving a 34-year sentence for drug trafficking. Ecuadorian authorities have but to clarify how he escaped from one of many nation’s notoriously violent prisons. They solely discovered of his escape when a navy contingent arrived to switch him to a different maximum-security jail however did not discover him in his cell.
The Ecuadorian military confirmed Macias’ recapture in what seemed to be the basement of a home. A video supplied by the military confirmed the second of the arrest, with a uniformed officer aiming a gun on the head of the drug trafficker, who gave his full identify. The officers had discovered him hiding in a small gap beneath what seemed to be a kitchen counter.
Wednesday’s announcement of his arrest is available in the identical week that Federico Gómez, alias “Fede,” the chief of one other gang referred to as Las Aguilas, was confirmed to have escaped from an Ecuadorian jail.
Final 12 months, U.S. Legal professional John Durham stated in a information launch that Macias led Los Choneros and its “community of assassins and drug and weapon traffickers” since not less than 2020.
With an in depth prison report together with costs of homicide and arranged crime, Macías has cultivated a cult standing amongst fellow gang members and the general public in his dwelling nation.
Whereas behind bars in 2023, he launched a video addressed to “the Ecuadorian individuals” whereas flanked by armed males. He additionally threw events in jail, the place he had entry to all the things from liquor to roosters for cockfighting matches. He additionally had been working Los Choneros from his jail cell, authorities allege.
Macías’ escape “triggered widespread riots, bombings, kidnappings, the assassination of a outstanding prosecutor, and an armed assault on a TV community throughout a dwell broadcast,” the U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Ecuador stated final 12 months.
The Ecuadorian authorities and drug mafias additionally declared warfare on one another, and Noboa gave orders to “neutralize” prison gangs after gunmen stormed and opened hearth within the TV studio and bandits threatened random executions of civilians and safety forces.
The seven-count indictment unsealed in Brooklyn costs Macías and an unidentified co-defendant with worldwide cocaine distribution, conspiracy and weapons counts, together with smuggling firearms from the USA.
Los Choneros employed individuals to purchase firearms, elements and ammunition in the USA and smuggle them into Ecuador, in accordance with the indictment. Cocaine would stream into the USA with the assistance of Mexican cartels.
“Los Choneros operated an unlimited community accountable for the cargo and distribution of multi-ton portions of cocaine from South America by means of Central America and Mexico to the USA and elsewhere,” the indictment says.
Final 12 months, the U.S. labeled Los Choneros as one of the violent gangs and affirmed its connection to highly effective Mexican drug cartels who threaten Ecuador and the encompassing area.
Authorities in Ecuador have labeled the gang as a terrorist group. Earlier this month, the Ecuadorian authorities introduced the reward for the seize of Macías could be elevated to $1 million.