Notorious drug lord extradited to US after prison escape and months-long manhunt

News.com.au

5 days ago

Ecuador's biggest drug lord has been extradited to the US one month after he was recaptured following a mysterious 2024 prison escape, which triggered a wave of violence across the country.
Jose Adolfo Macias, also known as 'Fito', the head of the powerful 'Los Choneros' gang, was removed from custody at a maximum-security prison and handed over to US officials in the Ecuadorean port city of Guayaquil on Sunday.
The US Attorney's Office had filed charges in April against the 44-year-old on suspicion of cocaine distribution, conspiracy and firearms violations, including weapons smuggling.
A letter filed by the US Department of Justice on Sunday said Macias was due to appear in a federal court this week 'for an arraignment on the Superseding Indictment in this case'.
Macias, a former taxi driver turned crime boss, agreed in an Ecuadorean court last week to be extradited to the US to face the charges.
He is the first Ecuadorean 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.
Los Choneros has ties to Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, Colombia's Gulf Clan – the world's largest cocaine exporter – and Balkan mafias, according to the Ecuadorean Organized Crime Observatory.
Escape from maximum security prison
Macias was serving a 34-year sentence for organised crime, drug trafficking and murder when he mysteriously escaped from the maximum security La Regional prison in Guayaquil in January 2024.
But he was no longer in his cell after a military contingent arrived to transfer him to another maximum security prison.
Authorities are yet to reveal exactly how the 44-year-old escaped. But its believed Macias, who is said to have instilled terror in his fellow inmates, broke out just hours before police arrived, according to presidency spokesman Roberto Izurieta.
Hours after the escape, riots broke out in the prison and four police officers were taken hostage, with one forced to read a threatening message to Mr Noboa.
Outside prison, Macias' escape sparked a surge of gang-related violence across the country, which lasted days and left about 20 people dead.
Shortly after the escape, Mr Noboa declared a nationwide 60-day state of emergency and ordered the military into the streets to 'neutralise' gangs.
'We will not negotiate with terrorists nor rest until we return peace,' the President said at the time.
A day after the order, armed men wearing balaclavas took over a television station during a live broadcast, forcing the terrified crew to the ground and firing shots.
'Please, they came in to kill us. God don't let this happen. The criminals are on air,' a TC employee told AFP in a WhatsApp message at the time.
Drug lord recaptured
Macias was eventually found by authorities last month, bringing to end an almost 18-month manhunt.
The 44-year-old was discovered hiding in a bunker concealed under floor tiles in a luxury home in the fishing port of Manta, the centre of operations for Los Choneros, on June 25.
Authorities, who had obtained intelligence alerting them to the luxurious home, said Macias was captured during a 10-hour joint operation with police and the military.
During the operation, excavators were brought in after an irregular crop field was identified behind the house.
'They started to excavate. As soon as this happened, Fito panicked because if we continued, the roof of his bunker would collapse,' Ecuador's Interior Minister John Reimberg said, according to CNN.
'At that moment, he opened the hatch, where the military was already located, and climbed out of the hole where he was hiding. That's how we detained him.'
Mr Noboa later declared the crime boss would be extradited to the US 'the sooner the better.'
'We will gladly send him and let him answer to the North American law,' Mr Noboa told CNN.
At the time, the US Embassy also congratulated Ecuador on the arrest, writing in Spanish on its X account that Washington 'supports Ecuador in its efforts to combat transnational crime for the security of the region'.
Ecuador, once a peaceful haven between the world's two top cocaine exporters – Colombia and Peru – has seen violence erupt in recent years as enemy gangs with ties to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for control.
More than 70 per cent of all cocaine produced in the world now passes through Ecuador's ports, according to government data.
In 2024, the country seized a record 294 tons of drugs, mainly cocaine.