The family of Adolfo Macías Villamar, also known as Fito, was deported from Argentina. Fito is the most wanted criminal in Ecuador and the leader of the notorious Los Choneros gang, which has been involved in drug trafficking, extortion, murder, and prison riots.
Argentina has arrested and deported the wife and children of Adolfo Macías Villamar, an Ecuadorean gang leader who is on the run after breaking out of jail.
The security minister of Argentina said this action against the family of the criminal, also known as Fito, demonstrated that the country was “not a safe haven for narco-criminals”.
Fito escaped from an Ecuadorean prison this month and is the target of a nationwide manhunt.
Ecuador has declared a state of emergency as it tries to capture the leader of the Los Choneros gang and deal with a wave of gang violence that has caused chaos in the country.
On Friday, Argentine officials showed a video of several people they claim are connected to Fito being escorted by police to an air force plane.
Patricia Bullrich, the security minister of Argentina, said at a press conference that they were caught at a location in the Córdoba region and sent back to Ecuador. She said there were eight deportees in total, comprising family members and associates.
Guillermo Francos, the interior minister of Argentina, said Argentina would “not be a refuge for criminals”.
This comes as Ecuador’s government is still searching for Fito and trying to contain the unrest caused by the gangs.
Fito, who is accused of being behind earlier prison violence, disappeared from his cell in a facility in Guayaquil.
He is also suspected of killing Fernando Villavicencio, a presidential candidate who campaigned against corruption and was gunned down last August.
After the escape, Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa declared a war on the gangs and enforced strict security measures, which have been met with fierce resistance by the gangs.
Authorities said they had restored order in the prisons after days of riots – but the most wanted criminal in the country is still at large.
President Noboa has asked the authorities in Colombia, where several powerful drug cartels operate, to help find Fito, AFP news agency reported.
He has also repeated his plans to deport foreign criminals to reduce the overcrowding in Ecuador’s unstable prisons.
