Ecuador says dozens arrested, explosives seized after attacks on police

QUITO - Police in Ecuador arrested 28 people after a series of attacks on police in two cities in the Andean country, and seized thousands of explosives and dynamite sticks, the government said on Wednesday.

President Guillermo Lasso declared a state of emergency and a 45-day curfew in two provinces on Tuesday after more than 18 attacks including shootings and explosions were reported in Guayaquil and Esmereldas, leaving five police officers dead and four injured.

Police said two further attacks had been reported on Tuesday night against a police unit and a health centre.

“We have planned a series of operations to safeguard the peace and quiet of all Ecuadoreans who want to work and prosper,” Mr Lasso said in a statement. “They will not intimidate us, they will have an answer to their actions.”

Mr Lasso has repeatedly accused drug gangs of using violence - including inside prisons - to retaliate against his government’s efforts to combat them. Ecuador is used as a transit point for drugs bound for Europe and the United States.

Meanwhile, police in Ecuador’s southern El Oro province stopped a truck carrying 16,416 sticks of explosives, 1,200 sticks of dynamite and 150,000 detonating capsules from a factory in Peru, the interior ministry said in a statement.

Authorities said the attacks and police shootings were triggered by a transfer of hundreds of prisoners from Guayaquil’s Penitenciaria, Ecuador’s most violent prison, to other detention centers in an attempt to reduce overcrowding and improve conditions for inmates.

Ecuador’s prison system has faced structural problems for decades, but jail violence has soared since late 2020, killing at least 400 people and terrorising inmates’ families.

Prisons agency SNAI said on Wednesday there had been gang clashes at Penitenciaria, leaving two inmates with minor injuries. REUTERS