BOGOTA, Colombia — One in all Ecuador’s most wished drug traffickers was captured Sunday, years after he faked his loss of life and moved to Spain.
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa mentioned that Wilmer Chavarria, often known as “Pipo,” was captured within the Spanish metropolis of Malaga in a joint operation with Spanish police. In a message on X, Spain’s Nationwide Police posted a photograph of Chavarria carrying a black and inexperienced monitor go well with as he was escorted by law enforcement officials towards a patrol automotive.
Chavarria is believed to be the chief of Los Lobos, a drug trafficking group with round 8,000 fighters that was lately designated a terrorist group by the USA. Los Lobos has been linked to political assassinations in Ecuador and has additionally been accused of working intently with Mexico’s Jalisco New Technology Cartel.
Noboa mentioned Chavarria faked his loss of life in 2021 in the course of the COVID pandemic, obtained a brand new id and moved to Spain, from the place he coordinated drug shipments, ordered assassinations and ran extortion rackets in opposition to gold mines in Ecuador.
Ecuador was one of the peaceable nations in South America within the early 2010s. However the nation of 18 million folks has skilled a spike in homicides and different violent crimes, because it turns into a key transit level for cocaine produced in neighboring Colombia and Peru. Drug trafficking gangs have attacked presidential candidates, municipal officers and journalists as they struggle for management over ports and coastal cities.
Chavarria’s seize comes as Ecuadorians vote on a four-part referendum, the place they are going to be requested if the nation’s structure needs to be amended to permit overseas nations to run navy bases in Ecuador.
Noboa has argued that this reform is important to additional anti drug cooperation with nations like the USA and improve stress on drug traffickers.
