Cop kidnappings after druglord’s escape poses test for president

ECUADOR’S new president grappled yesterday with a security nightmare as gangsters held four police officers hostage after he declared a state of emergency in response to a drug kingpin’s escape from prison.

President Daniel Noboa, 36, was elected in October on a pledge to fight rampant drug-related crime and violence in this South American country that has a key intermediary role in the USand European-bound cocaine trade.

Noboa declared a 60-day state of emergency throughout the country on Monday, including in Ecuador’s notoriously violent prisons, and imposed a nighttime curfew.

He acted after a powerful gang leader, Jose Adolfo Macias, known as “Fito”, escaped from prison.

Overnight, officials announced that four police officers had been kidnapped – three in Machala and one in Quito. Three people driving a vehicle without licence plates abducted the officer in Quito, police said.

A chilling video circulating on social media illustrated the crisis the president now faces. It shows the three kidnapped officers sitting on the ground with a gun pointed at them, while one is forced to read a statement addressed to the president.

“You declared war, you will get war,” this officer says. “You declared a state of emergency. We declare police, civilians and soldiers to be the spoils of war. Anyone found on the street after 11pm will be executed,” says the statement read by a terrified police officer.

In a video posted on Instagram, Noboa said the state of emergency would allow armed forces to help control prisons.“We will not negotiate with terrorists nor rest until we return peace to all Ecuadorans,” he said.

He announced last week that he will build two maximum security prisons – similar to the one built by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele during his war against gangs – to hold the most dangerous criminals.

Macias, 44, had been serving a 34-year sentence for organised crime, drug trafficking and murder. The leader of the powerful Los Choneros gang was declared missing Sunday by police conducting an inspection of the prison in the port city of Guayaquil.

He is believed to have been tipped off and escaped just hours before police arrived. The Attorney General filed charges against two prison officials it accuses of aiding Macias’ escape.

This is Macias’ second prison break – the last was in 2013 when he was recaptured after three months.

After his escape, unrest broke out at penitentiaries in six of Ecuador’s 24 provinces, with guards taken hostage.

Heavily armed police and soldiers entered the prisons of El Oro, Loja, Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, Azuay and Pichincha, after which the military distributed images of half-naked inmates rounded up in courtyards.

Long a peaceful haven sandwiched between top cocaine exporters Colombia and Peru, Ecuador has seen violence explode in recent years as enemy gangs with links to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for control.

The kidnapping of police officers came on top of explosions in the coastal town of Esmeraldas, in a region controlled by gangs. Police say an explosive device was thrown near a police station. In Quito, a car was reportedly blown up, and a device exploded near a pedestrian bridge.

Drug violence has taken a heavy toll. Last year 7 800 homicides were recorded and 220 tons of drugs seized, a new record for the nation.