Latest news with #prisonescape
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Yahoo
Man with gun tattoo and scar on his face escapes prison
A manhunt is underway after a man with links to Merseyside escaped prison. Police announced Anton Newell escaped HMP Springhill between 8.30am and 10.30am this morning, July 23, and remains unlawfully at large. The 36-year-old, originally from Isleworth in Middlesex, is described as a black man, around 6ft in tall, of thin build, with short brown hair and brown eyes. He has a "C" shaped scar on his left cheek, a scar on his neck and a scar on his right wrists. He has a tattoo of two guns on his right shoulder. He has connections to the Islington area of London, but has connections to the Merseyside and West Midlands areas. READ MORE: Man found dead at train station car park READ MORE: He thought they were his new friends but I have to live with what they did to him every day Detective Sergeant Matthew French, of Thames Valley Police, said: 'We are appealing for the public's help in tracing Newell. 'We would strongly advice members of the public not to approach him but to call 999 if they see him. 'If you have information as to his whereabouts then please call 101 quoting reference 43250369549'. For the latest news and breaking news visit Get all the big headlines, pictures, analysis, opinion and video on the stories that matter to you. Join the Liverpool ECHO Breaking News and Top Stories WhatsApp community to receive the latest news straight to your phone by clicking here. Don't miss the biggest and breaking stories by signing up to the Echo Daily newsletter here
New York Times
3 days ago
- New York Times
Leader of Ecuador's Most Powerful Gang to Face Drug Charges in New York
Ecuador's most powerful gang leader, whose escape from prison set off a chain of deadly violence across that country last year, was arraigned on drug trafficking and weapons smuggling charges in Brooklyn on Monday. The leader, José Adolfo Macías, known as Fito, is the head of Los Choneros, a gang that has helped establish a powerful drug-trafficking industry in Ecuador by infiltrating the ranks of government and terrorizing ordinary Ecuadoreans. Mr. Macías, 45, was captured by Ecuadorean authorities in June and extradited to the United States on Sunday. He had escaped prison in Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city, in January 2024, prompting the government to declare a 60-day state of emergency while the authorities searched for him. Mr. Macías, with a graying beard and wearing a green shirt, listened to the court proceedings on Monday through an interpreter. He pleaded not guilty. He is due back in court on Sept. 19 and faces up to life in prison if convicted. Ecuador has seen an explosion of violence related to drug trafficking. Since 2020, Los Choneros has played a central role in the unrest, carrying out kidnappings, killing citizens and taking over prisons, aided by public corruption, according to federal prosecutors. Prosecutors say that Mr. Macías, who became the leader of Los Choneros in 2020, has tapped a sprawling criminal network, including groups like the Sinaloa Cartel, to facilitate the movement of tons of cocaine from South America to Mexico, and eventually to the United States. In April, prosecutors announced Mr. Macías's indictment in Federal District Court in Brooklyn on charges of international drug and weapons smuggling. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
News.com.au
3 days ago
- Politics
- News.com.au
Notorious drug lord extradited to US after prison escape and months-long manhunt
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.
The Guardian
14-07-2025
- The Guardian
French prisoner rearrested days after escape in cellmate's laundry bag
A prisoner who escaped from a French jail hidden in the laundry bag of another detainee who was released on Friday has been rearrested, authorities have said, amid a continuing debate over prison security and overcrowding. Elyazid A, 20, known as 'the Joker' or 'the Equaliser', was detained early on Monday morning as he emerged from a cellar in a village about 15 miles (25km) from Lyon-Corbas, the prison he had escaped from on Friday. Prison officers had not noticed his disappearance until he had been gone for 24 hours. They said he escaped in a large plastic laundry bag filled with clothes wheeled out of the prison on a trolley by one of his cellmates who was released on Friday. The cellmate is still being sought, police said. The justice minister, Gérald Darmanin, has ordered an investigation into the circumstances of the escape, as have Lyon public prosecutors, the French prison service and Lyon-Corbas jail itself. Sébastien Cauwel, the national prison service chief, said Elyazid A, who was in prison for a range of relatively minor offences but also under investigation for alleged criminal association and conspiracy to murder, had not been flagged as a security risk. Cauwel told BFMTV that the escape method was 'extremely rare' and the fact it had succeeded was 'the consequence of a series of dysfunctions – serious and inadmissible dysfunctions – inside this prison, which are now being fully investigated'. He said the episode appeared to be a result of 'human rather than material' failing inside the prison, but added that severe overcrowding 'obviously makes the prison officers' job somewhat more difficult than it might otherwise be'. Lyon-Corbas prison was designed for 678 inmates but holds almost 1,220, according to report in May by the Lyon bar association, which called for an 'urgent end to overcrowding so as to respect fundamental rights and human dignity'. France's total prison population of 85,000 is housed in jails meant to accommodate fewer than 63,000, Cauwel said. He said it was possible officers had not noticed the escape because cells that were no longer fully occupied 'are immediately refilled'. According to a 2024 Council of Europe report, France's 186 prisons have the worst overcrowding rate in the EU after those in Cyprus and Romania. Spectacular escapes are not uncommon, with nearly 20 helicopter breakouts since the 1980s. Unions say the prison service is understaffed by at least 5,000 officers. In April, 21 people were arrested after a wave of attacks hit multiple French jails, with automatic weapons fired at the entrance to Toulon prison in the south of the country. In other incidents, cars were set alight and prison officers' accommodation was vandalised in what media described as a 'declaration of war' by drug cartels after a government crackdown on traffickers and the imposition of tougher conditions for kingpins operating inside jails. The justice ministry has said it is working to improve general prison conditions, with measures including new high-security prisons for the most dangerous detainees aimed at combating organised crime that often continues to be run from inside jails.
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Yahoo
French prisoner escapes in fellow inmate's bag, officials say
A man has escaped a French prison by hiding in the bag of a fellow inmate who was leaving prison after serving their sentence, officials told local media. The prison service has launched an investigation after the man escaped from Lyon-Corbas prison in south-east France on Friday, according to broadcaster BFMTV. He "took advantage of the liberation of his fellow inmate to hide himself in his luggage and get out", the prison service said in a statement to AFP news agency. French media have reported that the escaped prisoner was serving several sentences and was also under investigation in a case linked to organised crime. A judicial investigation has also been opened into possible "escape as part of an organised gang and criminal conspiracy", according to local media. Last month, the Lyon Bar Association expressed alarm about overcrowding at the Lyon-Corbas prison. As of 1 May 2025, around 1,200 people were detained in the prison, which has capacity for 678 places, BFMTV had reported. French jails have come under attack. Are violent drug gangs to blame? France reels after double prison guard killing
