Crime
14 killed as rival Ecuadoran inmates fight with guns, explosives
Inmates in Ecuador fought each other with guns and explosives in a riot that left 13 prisoners and a guard dead, police said.
The mayhem was the latest in a series of bloodbaths to engulf gang-ridden, overcrowded prisons in a once-peaceful country now at ground zero of the violent Latin American drug trade.
An unknown number of inmates escaped in the clash between rival gangs, during which another 14 people were injured, a masked police officer identified as commander Colonel William Calle told the Ecuavisa channel.
Thirteen inmates have been recaptured.
Calle said gunfire broke out in the early morning hours, alerting prison guards and police who rushed to that part of the prison in Machala, in southwest Ecuador near the Peruvian border.
One guide was killed as he entered, and others were taken hostage, said the officer.
Calle said the confrontation lasted about 40 minutes, during which inmates “fired guns, threw bombs, and grenades.”
The dead inmates belonged to the rival Los Choneros and Los Lobos gangs, two of the biggest drug trafficking groups in Ecuador.
Police said the violence was the result of “fighting between gangs” in a facility housing double the number of inmates it was designed for.
Organized crime has transformed Ecuador, a country of about 17 million, into one of the most violent nations in the world.
Calle said “control has already been regained” over the prison.
He did not specify the fate of the hostages or how many inmates were on the run.
– ‘Internal armed conflict’ –
Nestled between the globe’s top two cocaine exporters — Colombia and Peru — Ecuador has seen violence spiral in recent years as rival gangs with ties to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for control.
More than 70 percent of all cocaine produced in the world now passes through Ecuador’s ports, according to government data.
Gang wars have largely played out inside the country’s prisons, where some 500 inmates have been killed since February 2021, often in gruesome fashion — their bodies dismembered and burnt.
Ecuador’s biggest prison massacre happened in 2021, when over 100 inmates died in clashes in the port of Guayaquil in the southwest.
Prisoners went live on social media to broadcast the violence, showing decapitated and charred bodies.
Last year, gang members took scores of prison guards hostage after the jailbreak of narco boss, Jose Adolfo Macias, aka “Fito,” while allies on the outside detonated bombs and held a television presenter at gunpoint live on air.
President Daniel Noboa declared a “state of internal armed conflict and Fito — the boss of Los Choneros — was recaptured in June.
He had been serving a 34-year sentence since 2011 for involvement in organized crime, drug trafficking, and murder, but continued pulling the strings of the criminal underworld from behind bars.
Videos emerged of Fito holding wild parties, some with fireworks, illustrating the lawlessness of Ecuador’s prisons.
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 Ecuadorian Organized Crime Observatory.
AFP
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has declared former Bayelsa State Governor and ex-Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, wanted in connection with an alleged financial crime involving $14,859,257.
According to the EFCC, the funds were part of a contribution by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) to Atlantic International Refinery and Petrochemical Limited for the construction of a refinery. Sylva, 61, from Brass Local Government Area in Bayelsa State, is accused of conspiracy and dishonest conversion of the funds.
The notice follows a warrant issued by the Lagos State High Court on November 6, 2025.
The EFCC has urged anyone with information on Sylva’s whereabouts to contact any of its offices across Nigeria, including Ibadan, Uyo, Sokoto, Maiduguri, Benin, Makurdi, Kaduna, Ilorin, Enugu, Kano, Lagos, Gombe, Port Harcourt, and Abuja. Tips can also be sent via info@efcc.gov.ng or through the commission’s hotline: 08093322644.
The EFCC emphasized that information could also be reported to the nearest police station or other security agencies.
A member of the House of Representatives, Jafaru Mohammad Ali Damisa, narrowly escaped death on Tuesday after his convoy was ambushed by suspected terrorists in Niger State.
The attack occurred along the Lumma–Babanna road in Borgu Local Government Area while Damisa, who represents Borgu and Agwara Federal Constituency, was on his way to Babanna for an official engagement.
According to eyewitnesses, the gunmen—identified as “Lakurawa terrorists,” locally known as bandits—opened fire on the lawmaker’s convoy in a surprise afternoon attack.
Security operatives attached to the convoy responded immediately, resulting in a fierce gun battle. One soldier was reportedly killed, while several others sustained injuries and were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment. Some of Damisa’s political aides and supporters were also injured during the exchange.
Witnesses said the attackers fired relentlessly, riddling several vehicles with bullets before fleeing the scene. At least 11 vehicles were reportedly vandalised in the attack.
Despite the heavy assault, Damisa escaped unharmed. Security agencies are said to have launched a manhunt for the assailants in the area.
The Kebbi State Police Command has confirmed the abduction of the Deputy Speaker of the Kebbi State House of Assembly, Hon. Samaila Bagudu, by gunmen suspected to be members of the Lakurawa terrorist group.
According to eyewitnesses, the attackers invaded Bagudu Local Government Area, the hometown of the Deputy Speaker, on Friday. The assailants reportedly stormed the town in large numbers, firing sporadically to disperse residents before whisking away the lawmaker.
In a statement issued by the Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Nafiu Abubakar, the command said that a joint team of police tactical units, military personnel, and local vigilantes had been deployed to the area in pursuit of the kidnappers.
“The team is currently combing the surrounding forests with the aim of rescuing the Honourable member unhurt and apprehending the perpetrators,” the statement read.
The police urged residents to remain calm and cooperate with security agencies by providing useful information that could aid in the rescue operation.
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