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
Crime
Indonesia to Repatriate British Grandmother on Death Row, Says Official

Indonesia will sign an agreement on Tuesday to repatriate two British nationals convicted of drug-related crimes, including Lindsay Sandiford, a grandmother sentenced to death, according to a senior Indonesian government source.
“The practical arrangement will be signed today. The transfer will be done immediately after the technical side is agreed,” the official told AFP, naming Sandiford and Shahab Shahabadi, 35, as the individuals to be returned to the UK.
Sandiford was sentenced to death in 2013 after she was caught smuggling cocaine worth over $2.1 million into Bali from Thailand. The drugs were discovered concealed in a false bottom of her suitcase. Shahabadi, arrested in 2014, is currently serving a life sentence for separate drug offences.
Although the Indonesian source listed Sandiford’s age as 68, public records indicate she is 69.
A joint press conference with Indonesian officials and the British ambassador to Indonesia was scheduled for later Tuesday, according to the Coordinating Ministry for Legal, Human Rights, Immigration and Correctional Affairs.
Tabloid Attention and Personal Testimony
Sandiford’s case received widespread attention in the UK after she admitted to the offences but claimed she was coerced by a drug syndicate that threatened to kill her son. In a 2015 article published in The Mail on Sunday, Sandiford wrote from prison about her fear of imminent execution:
“My execution is imminent, and I know I might die at any time now. I could be taken tomorrow from my cell. I have started to write goodbye letters to members of my family.”
Originally from Redcar, in northeast England, she also wrote that she planned to sing the Perry Como hit “Magic Moments” before facing the firing squad.
During her time in prison, Sandiford reportedly became close friends with Andrew Chan, one of the “Bali Nine” Australian drug smugglers who was executed in 2015.
Policy Shift on Repatriation
The planned transfer follows recent moves by the Prabowo Subianto administration to repatriate foreign nationals serving harsh sentences for drug crimes. In December 2024, Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina who spent nearly 15 years on death row, was allowed to return home. In February 2025, Serge Atlaoui, a French national, was repatriated after 18 years on death row.
Indonesia, known for having some of the world’s strictest drug laws, last carried out executions in 2016, when three Nigerian citizens and an Indonesian were executed by firing squad. As of early November 2025, more than 90 foreign nationals remain on death row in the country, all for drug-related offences.
The British Embassy in Jakarta declined to comment, directing inquiries to the Indonesian government.
Indonesian authorities have recently signalled the potential resumption of executions, after nearly a decade-long de facto moratorium.
Crime
Bauchi: Boy,17, plucks sister’s eyes for money ritual
The victim’s father told investigators that the suspect lured his daughter, who shares the same parents, into the bush, where he attacked her and forcefully plucked her eyes.

Bauchi State Police Command, has arrested a teenager, Auwal Dahiru, aged 17, and five others for having forcefully plucked her sister’s eyes for money ritual.
His accomplishes are Mohammed Rabiu, aged 19; Saleh Ibrahim, aged 20; Nasiru Muhammad of Soro town, Ganjuwa LGA; Hassan Garba of Soro town, Ganjuwa LGA; and Garba Dahiru, aged 43, of Soro town.
The Command PPRO, CSP Mohammed Ahmed Wakil, in a statement made available to journalists in Bauchi on Monday, stated that Auwalu lured his seven-year-old sister to the bush, where her eyes were forcefully removed for ritual purposes.
The PPRO added that on 17 October 2025, at about 18:00 hours, one Muhammad Adamu of Bayan Dutse Village, Wailo, Kubi Ward, Ganjuwa LGA, Bauchi State, reported at the Soro Divisional Police Headquarters that on the same date at about 20:00 hours his daughter, Rukayya Muhammad, aged seven years, was attacked with the intention of killing her and an attempt was made to pluck out her eyes.
“Upon receipt of the report, a team of detectives led by CSP Aliyu Mohammad Goni, Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Soro Division, immediately dispatched to the scene, where the suspects were arrested.
At the same time, the victim was quickly evacuated to Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH), Bauchi, for medical treatment.”
A preliminary investigation’s findings revealed that the seven-year-old girl, Rukayya Muhammad, tragically lost her eyesight permanently after her elder brother allegedly removed both of her eyes in a money ritual, reportedly in a desperate attempt to gain wealth.
The victim’s father told investigators that the suspect lured his daughter, who shares the same parents, into the bush, where he attacked her and forcefully plucked her eyes.
Crime
Military Denies Coup Allegations, Reaffirms Commitment to Democracy

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has dismissed reports linking the cancellation of Nigeria’s 65th Independence Anniversary activities to an alleged attempted military coup, calling such claims misleading and false.
An online publication had reported that 16 military officers, from Captain to Brigadier General, were detained by the Defence Intelligence Agency over suspected covert meetings to plan a coup against the government.
In a statement issued on Saturday and signed by the Director of Defence Information, Brigadier General Tukur Gusau, the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) described the report as malicious and intended to create unnecessary tension and distrust among Nigerians.
The DHQ clarified that the cancellation of the Independence Day parade was due to President Bola Tinubu’s attendance at a strategic bilateral meeting abroad, and to allow the military to focus on ongoing operations against terrorism, insurgency, and banditry.
The statement further assured the public that the investigation involving the officers is a routine internal process aimed at maintaining discipline and professionalism within the armed forces. An investigative panel has been set up, and its findings will be released once the inquiry concludes.
The DHQ called on Nigerians to support security agencies and disregard misinformation circulated by enemies of the state. It reaffirmed the Armed Forces’ loyalty to the Constitution and the Federal Government under President Tinubu.
“The Federal Government, the legislature, and the judiciary are working closely for the safety, development, and well-being of the nation. Democracy is forever,” the statement emphasized.
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