Ecuador: The leader of the mega-band Los Lobos was captured in an operation that took place in three cities

The Ecuadorian Police captured the leader of the mega-gang Los Lobos, the second largest gang in the country and who would be the perpetrators of the last prison massacre that left at least 20 dead, including several beheaded. An operation that included simultaneous raids in three cities in the country allowed the arrest of the leader and his collaborators.

The arrest of Manuel F.C., head of Los Lobos, took place early last Wednesday in Ibarra, a city in the Ecuadorian highlands located 113 kilometers from Quito. Manuel F.C. has a criminal record of illicit association and substance trafficking since 1999. In Ibarra alone, 11 houses were raided to arrest the offender.

In addition to the capture of the leader, the supplier, the salesman recruiter, the vendor and the entire structure that disputed the sale of drugs in various sectors of Quito, Ibarra and Otavalo were also apprehended, according to the national anti-narcotics director, Giovanni Ponce. Among the detainees are two women and one foreigner, who have a criminal record.

In order to carry out the operation that led to the capture, the National Unit for Investigation against Illicit Trafficking for Domestic Consumption, of the National Directorate of Anti-Drug Investigation, had been investigating the movements of criminals for five months. The operation, called Merlin, allowed the capture of 13 people.

Miguel Zambrano, chief of the National Police operation, indicated that, in Ibarra, when the criminals were arrested, the inhabitants of the sector tried to defend the detainees and confronted the police.

According to Zambrano, the drugs that were being sold by the detainees were obtained in Colombia. Narcotics entered through the shared border between Ecuador and Colombia and were sent to the three cities where the operations were carried out. Upon reaching their destination, the gang stored, cut, packaged and distributed the drugs to their dispensers.

As a result of the operations, 160 grams of cocaine base paste were seized, equivalent to 1,600 doses, 50 grams of marijuana, approximately 100 doses, two vehicles, 26 cell phones and USD 4,850 in cash.

After the respective hearing, according to the police, Manuel F.C. will be transferred to a maximum security prison, probably La Roca, in Guayaquil, where five leaders of Los Lobos were admitted last week, who were transferred to that prison after the last wave of violence in the Turi prison.

Los Lobos and the prison crisis

Bloodbaths in Ecuadorian prisons have already killed more than 315 prisoners in 2021. The authorities say that violence is generated by power struggles between criminal gangs that control prisons and that are related to drug trafficking. At the same time, violence on the streets has doubled in the first months of 2022, as have drug seizures.

Los Lobos are the second largest megaband in Ecuador. It is estimated that 8,000 prisoners join the gang. In the prison of Turi, Los Lobos command the prison of 1,600 inmates.

The Los Lobos megabanda together with the gangs Los Pipos, Los Chone Killers and Los Tiguerones, were grouped together under the name of Nueva Generación. They dispute with Los Choneros, the largest mega-band in the country, for control of the routes through which drug trafficking sends drugs, especially cocaine, to the United States and countries in Europe.

After the authorities relocated five leaders of the mega-band Los Lobos, who reportedly caused the last bloodbath in the Turi prison in southern Ecuador, incidents were recorded in four prisons in the country. The SOS Prisons platform revealed that the prisons where the protests took place are under the command of Los Lobos.

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Prisoners protests in four prisons in Ecuador over the transfer of five leaders of “Los Lobos” to a maximum prison security