Ecuador’s most wanted drug lord ‘Fito’ captured in ‘underground bunker’

Ecuador police have taken over the most sought after fugitive in the country, the drug lord Adolfo Macías Villamar.

Macías, also known by the alias “Fito”, is the leader of Los Choneros, a powerful criminal gang which is blamed for the transformation of the equator of a tourist paradise into a country with one of the highest murder rates in the region.

He is also suspected of having ordered The assassination of the presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in 2023.

Police found him that they described as an underground bunker under a luxury house in the city of Manta.

A police spokesman said no shot had been fired in the joint 10 am by police and the army.

A large number of officers first watched and surrounded the three -story house in the Monterrey de Manta district, on the Ecuadorian coast.

When they stormed the building, they found a lying hatch, disguised to resemble part of the stone floor, from which the metal stairs led to the underground hiding place of Fito.

The “bunker” was equipped with air conditioning, a bed, a fan and a refrigerator.

The house itself boasted of a gym with a punch bag and a games room where it could play pool and table football.

Fito would not have put any resistance and would have been transferred by air to the port city of Guayaquil, where there are several of the largest prisons of Ecuador.

Images of his arrival in Guayaquil show him bearing shorts, a T-shirt and flip-flops while being led by armed security officers to a parked SUV before being transferred to the Roca prison with maximum security.

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa praised the security forces for capturing Fito and said he would be extradited to the United States, where he was accused of smuggling cocaine.

Fito escaped from the Los Angeles regional prison in Guayaquil in January 2024 with the help of at least two guards, which caused the attention of the world’s media.

He sparked a wave of deadly prison riots, in which guards were taken hostage and who prompted Noboa to declare the state of emergency.

But Fito was already notorious before his escape. During his stay in prison – while serving a 34 -year sentence for murder and drug trafficking – he went to the top of the Los Choneros gang after his previous chef was killed.

Behind bars, he coordinated the gang activities, which include drug trafficking and extortion.

He is also suspected of having ordered the murder of the politician Fernando Villavicencio, who was killed during a campaign rally a few days before the 2023 elections.

Under the direction of Fito, Los Choneros forged links with the powerful Sinaloa cartel of Mexico, an alliance which, according to experts, led to horrible tactics commonly used by Mexican cartels – such as decapitations and mutilations – spreading to the equator.

Shortly before his prison, he also appeared in a clip in Narcocorrido – a smooth clip in which his daughter glorifies his father’s criminal exploits.

The video, which was partly recorded inside the prison, shows it caressing a fighting rooster and discussing freely with other detainees.

The escape of the gang leader in 2024 was a blow for the government of Noboa. The Ecuadorian chief had taken office in November 2023 after being elected to combat the growing power of gangs.

On Wednesday, Noboa said that the capture of the drug lord was proof of his approach – which includes the laws by giving him sweeping powers to declare an “armed internal conflict” and which allows the police to carry out searches without a mandate – worked.

“More [drug lords] will fall, we will resume [control of] The country, “he posted on X.