'Most wanted' criminal of Ecuador vanishes from prison

The head of the Los Choneros gang in Ecuador, who was listed as the “most-wanted prisoner” by the authorities, vanished from the jail where he was being held on Sunday, prison authorities said as they launched a manhunt to find him. The national commander of police, General Cesar Zapata, announced at a press conference that one of the prisoners in the Guayaquil prison was missing, according to the country’s armed forces. The prosecutor’s office said it would look into “the alleged escape” of Los Choneros leader Jose Adolfo Macias, even though Zapata did not mention the prisoner by name. 2011 saw Macias, also known by the alias “Fito,” receive a 34-year prison sentence for a number of offenses, including murder and drug trafficking. Los Choneros is a criminal organization authorities have linked to extortion, murder and drug trafficking, among other crimes, and accused of controlling the country’s main prisons. “We’re grateful for the courage and commitment of the law enforcement forces, who, in an operation involving more than 3,000 people, have intervened in the prison in search of the most-wanted prisoner,” said presidential spokesman Roberto Izurieta at the press conference. Rival criminal organizations frequently clash in Ecuador’s overcrowded prisons and official numbers show more than 400 inmates have died since 2021. (with inputs from Reuters)