Ecuador's biggest drug lord ‘Fito' extradited to US
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Drug trafficker Adolfo Macias being escorted out of La Roca prison to be extradited to US in Guayaquil on July 20, 2025. Photo / Snai, AFP
The Ecuadorian Government has extradited notorious drug trafficker Adolfo Macias, alias 'Fito', to the United States, a month after he was recaptured following a 2024 escape from a maximum security penitentiary, the country's prison authority says.
The US Attorney's Office filed charges in April against Macias, the head of the 'Los Choneros' gang, on suspicion of cocaine distribution, conspiracy and firearms violations, including weapons smuggling.
The drug lord on Sunday (local time) was removed from custody at a maximum security prison in Ecuador's southwest 'for the purposes that correspond to the extradition process,' Ecuador's prison authority SNAI said
Macias, a former taxi driver turned crime boss, agreed in a Quito court last week to be extradited to the United States to face the charges.
He is the first Ecuadorian extradited by his country since a new measure was written into law last year, after a referendum in which President Daniel Noboa sought the approval of moves to boost his war on criminal gangs.
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