‘Pipo’, Ecuador’s most wanted drug trafficker, arrested with the help of the Spanish police | International

The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, announced the capture of Wilmer Chavarría on Sunday (Pipo), leader of Los Lobos, the largest and most powerful Ecuadorian criminal gang currently present in the Andean country, which has become the most wanted after the capture, in May, of the drug trafficker José Adolfo Macías Villamar (Phyto). Through a message on social networks, Noboa reported it Pipo He was captured in a joint operation between the police of Ecuador and Spain. The place of detention was not specified.

The Ecuadorian president made this announcement in conjunction with the opening of election day in Ecuador for the referendum called by the head of state to decide, among other issues, whether to establish a Constituent Assembly that would allow for a stronger fight against organized crime, as well as greater flexibility for the arrival of investments and the creation of jobs. “Today we caught Pipo Chavarría, the most wanted criminal in the region and top leader of Los Lobos. The criminal who faked his death changed his identity and hid in Europe while ordering assassinations in Ecuador, controlling illegal mining operations and moving drug routes along the (Mexican) Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel,” Noboa said.

“Some thought he was dead; we looked for him in his hell. This is the difference when there is the will to fight for one’s country. I recognize and appreciate the joint work of the Ecuadorian and Spanish National Police,” he added. After voting in the coastal municipality of Olón, in the province of Santa Elena, where he has his seaside residence, Noboa said the capture of ‘Pipo’ was possible “thanks to international cooperation with Spain and the United States.” “We have carried out a quite effective and very well coordinated operation. International cooperation is the best way to fight these groups,” said Noboa, who among his proposals for this referendum also proposes to once again allow the installation of foreign military bases. Los Lobos has become the most powerful criminal gang in Ecuador, leading the war between criminal organizations that has been taking place in the country since the end of 2020.

The gang led by Pipo he tried to emancipate himself from Los Choneros and managed to drive them out by creating, according to the authorities, an alliance with the Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel to ship cocaine to Mexico, mainly coming from Colombia, in contrast with his rivals, allies of the Sinaloa cartel. Los Lobos have broadened their scope and diversified their activities by also entering heavily into the illegal mining sector and creating, according to the authorities, alliances with dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) for the exploitation of illegal mining enclaves in the border areas of the Amazon.