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Armed gang storms Ecuador TV station after state of emergency declared
Gangsters unleashed wave of terror following move by President Daniel Noboa in response to gang leader’s prison escape
Heavily armed gangsters have stormed the studio of a major television station in Ecuador during a live broadcast as criminal groups launched a series of seemingly coordinated attacks across the South American country and its prison system was plunged into chaos.
Toting pistols, machine guns and sticks of dynamite, the masked criminals stormed the headquarters of the TC Televisión network in Ecuador’s largest city, Guayaquil, at about 2pm local time.
The newspaper El Universo said panicked reporters and camera operators flooded messaging groups with pleas for help as the outlaws rampaged through the building. “They want to kill the lot of us. Help us,” one message read. The news program, El noticiero, was reportedly on air when its studio was overrun by more than 20 men with their faced covered, and armed with pistols, shotguns and automatic weapons.
...
The invasion came as criminal groups launched a wave of terror across Ecuador, kidnapping police officers and detonating a string of bombs, as prison inmates seized dozens of guards hostage. The attacks came hours after the country’s new president, Daniel Noboa, declared a state of emergency following the escape of the country’s most dangerous gang leader.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/09/ecuador-gangs-wave-terror-state-of-emergency
Heavily armed gangsters have stormed the studio of a major television station in Ecuador during a live broadcast as criminal groups launched a series of seemingly coordinated attacks across the South American country and its prison system was plunged into chaos.
Toting pistols, machine guns and sticks of dynamite, the masked criminals stormed the headquarters of the TC Televisión network in Ecuador’s largest city, Guayaquil, at about 2pm local time.
The newspaper El Universo said panicked reporters and camera operators flooded messaging groups with pleas for help as the outlaws rampaged through the building. “They want to kill the lot of us. Help us,” one message read. The news program, El noticiero, was reportedly on air when its studio was overrun by more than 20 men with their faced covered, and armed with pistols, shotguns and automatic weapons.
...
The invasion came as criminal groups launched a wave of terror across Ecuador, kidnapping police officers and detonating a string of bombs, as prison inmates seized dozens of guards hostage. The attacks came hours after the country’s new president, Daniel Noboa, declared a state of emergency following the escape of the country’s most dangerous gang leader.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/09/ecuador-gangs-wave-terror-state-of-emergency
The measures were introduced by President Noboa after the boss of the Los Choneros gang disappeared from a maximum security jail on Sunday.
Officials said Fito, whose real name is Adolfo Macías Villamar, was not in his cell on Sunday morning when police arrived to move him to a different jail within the same compound.
He is thought to have absconded just hours before his planned transfer. Two prison guards have been detained on suspicion of helping Fito escape.
...
Nearly 40 other inmates, including another convicted drug lord, broke out from another prison in the city of Riobamba in the early hours of Tuesday.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-67930452
Officials said Fito, whose real name is Adolfo Macías Villamar, was not in his cell on Sunday morning when police arrived to move him to a different jail within the same compound.
He is thought to have absconded just hours before his planned transfer. Two prison guards have been detained on suspicion of helping Fito escape.
...
Nearly 40 other inmates, including another convicted drug lord, broke out from another prison in the city of Riobamba in the early hours of Tuesday.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-67930452
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