Ecuadorian police have defused explosives taped around the chest of a desperate security guard who was waiting in a street in the port of Guayaquil, a city plagued by drug trafficking, the intervention of demining units.
On videos broadcast via social networks, we can see a man, his bust surrounded by adhesive tape holding rectangular packages from which electrical cables come out, who carries his hands to his head, under the distant gaze of pedestrians.
The Ecuadorian media specified that it was a security guard at a jewelry store who had been tied up with explosives because his employer had refused the racket to which he was subjected.
“I commend the bravery and professional work of our police officers and the demining team for disabling the explosive device,” police commander Fausto Salinas wrote on Twitter on Thursday.
Police also released a photo of a deminer wearing protective gear disabling explosives.
AFP then found that the security guard had been escorted by the police, this time wearing a helmet and a bulletproof vest.
He is in good health, according to the police.
The port of Guayaquil, Ecuador’s second city, is now one of the most violent areas in that country. Gangs and criminal groups are fighting over the control of drug trafficking routes. Kidnappings, extortion and hitmen are frequent.
Located between Colombia and Peru, the world’s largest producers of cocaine, Ecuador has gone from being a mere transit country to that of an important distribution center to Europe and the United States.
Drug seizures continue to increase there and the rate of violent deaths has increased from 14 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2021 to 25 in 2022.
03/31/2023 16:52:57 – Quito (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
