In the early hours of the morning, the AFP accompanied security forces during an operation to evict drug traffickers from occupied houses in the Pacific coast city of Duran, not far from Guayaquil, the epicenter of gang violence in the region .
Ecuador’s police and army have regained control of about 70 houses that gangs had wrested from their owners or occupants in recent months in a strategic area in the country’s southwest, authorities announced Tuesday.
In the early hours of the morning, the AFP accompanied security forces during an operation to evict drug traffickers from occupied houses in the Pacific coast city of Duran, not far from Guayaquil, the epicenter of gang violence in the region .
Heavily armed police and military raided homes, demanding that those present present documents certifying that they were their own properties, as well as registration licenses for vehicles parked on the properties, an AFP cameraman found.
“Until now, 70 houses have been returned to their rightful owners, houses that had been seized” by gangs, police deputy chief Fausto Buenano assured during a press conference in Duran.
This is a new method of action of the gangs that mainly engage in drug trafficking: they extort money from families by extorting money, threatening to drive them out of their homes. If the victims do not pay or are no longer able to pay, the perpetrators take their homes, turning them into hideouts for kidnap victims, or storage areas for weapons and drugs, according to reports from residents and authorities.
At the mouth of the Guayas River, the area is considered a strategically important exit point for large quantities of cocaine to the waters of the Pacific Ocean, some 40 kilometers to the south.
As of last week, the police and military have been focusing their operations on Duran, a gang hotbed of more than 300,000 people, which recorded 450 homicides in 2023 — the second highest of any municipality in the country, after Guayaquil (2,230).
According to Vicente Awad, the governor in Guayas province, where Duran is administered, the city “had become a center” of crime “with the knowledge of previous governments”.
On July 17, the first day of security operations in Duran, Ecuador’s president, Daniel Noboa, declared that “the hours are numbered” for the gangs infesting the region. In his declared “war” against drug traffickers, Mr Noboa has since January deployed the armed forces to areas of the country most plagued by violence.
Source :Skai
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