{"id":30005,"date":"2025-11-17T04:17:45","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T09:17:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=30005"},"modified":"2025-11-17T04:17:45","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T09:17:45","slug":"leader-of-notorious-ecuador-drugs-gang-captured-in-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2025\/11\/17\/leader-of-notorious-ecuador-drugs-gang-captured-in-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"Leader of notorious Ecuador drugs gang captured in Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The leader of one of Ecuador’s biggest drug-trafficking gangs has been captured in an operation involving Spanish police, Ecuador’s president Daniel Noboa has said.<\/b><\/p>\n

Wilmer “Pipo” Chavarria, the head of Los Lobos, was detained in the city of Malaga, according to Spain’s National Police.<\/p>\n

President Noboa said Chavarria had faked his own death, changed his identity and hidden in Europe while continuing to control criminal operations in Ecuador, including illegal mining and ordering murders.<\/p>\n

His family had claimed in 2021 that he had died from a heart attack due to Covid.<\/p>\n

Both Ecuador and the US have designated Los Lobos (The Wolves) as a terrorist organisation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In a\u00a0post on X<\/a>, Ecuador’s interior minister John Reimberg, who said he was in Spain with police, said the capture of Chavarria was a “historic day” for his country.<\/p>\n

Los Lobos is estimated to have 8,000 members and is one of the most powerful criminal organisations in Ecuador.<\/p>\n

In June 2024, the US Treasury sanctioned the gang and described it as a group with “thousands of members” that had significantly contributed to the increase in violence in Ecuador.<\/p>\n

Violence and murders have soared in Ecuador in recent years as it has\u00a0become a major cocaine trafficking hub<\/a>\u00a0and rival gangs compete for control. It does not produce the drug, but sits next to major drug-producing countries such as Peru and Colombia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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