The gangsters who stormed an Ecuadorian TV station with guns and grenades and then took journalists hostage were humiliated after being arrested by police.
Thirteen of the thugs who grandly brandished bombs while threatening civilians on live television were arrested yesterday.
A “civil war” with cartel gangs broke out in Ecuador yesterday after the president sent the army into the streets and declared a state of “internal armed conflict.”
Mad criminals rampaged through the South American country's cities after 36-year-old President Daniel Noboa ordered a state of emergency.
Masked gangsters seized the state television news studio yesterday, while a university was attacked and prison guards were reportedly executed by prisoners.
The gangsters who stormed an Ecuadorian TV station with guns and grenades and then took journalists hostage were humiliated after being arrested by police
Their hands were tied behind their backs and they sat barefoot as armed police watched
The thugs who grandly brandished bombs while harassing civilians on live television were arrested yesterday
They were seen today with their heads bowed as a soldier pointed at them
Men with covered faces entered the set of TC Television in the port city of Guayaquil and shouted that they had bombs. Gunshot-like noises could be heard in the background
Ecuador has been rocked by a series of attacks, including explosions and the kidnapping of several police officers, after the government declared a state of emergency following the escape of a powerful gang leader from prison.
Adolfo “Fito” Macías, 44, the leader of the Los Choneros gang, was found missing from his cell at a low-security prison on Sunday, the day he was scheduled to be transferred to a high-security facility.
A manhunt is underway for Macías and Los Lobos leader Fabricio Colon Pico, who, since his arrest last Friday for alleged involvement in an assassination plot against Ecuador's attorney general, also escaped from prison on Tuesday.
The state police present those arrested who broke into the premises of the public television station
Ecuador declared a state of emergency on Monday after one of the country's most dangerous gang leaders disappeared from his prison cell
Police in Ecuador arrested several gunmen who broke into the set of a public television station during a live broadcast on Tuesday, forcing staff to lie and sit on the floor
Members of the armed forces search a man during a civil security operation in Quito on January 10
Members of the armed forces search a man during a security operation in Quito today
Gunshots could be heard on live television on Tuesday as men armed with bombs and grenades stormed into a studio shortly after gangsters vowed a “war” against the president's plans to regain control from “drug terrorists.”
Attackers with guns and grenades stormed the studio of television station TC in the port city of Guayaquil in western Ecuador as a woman pleaded: “Don't shoot, please don't shoot” amid gunfire.
In the attack on Tuesday night, intruders forced a terrified television crew to the ground and one person could be heard screaming in pain as the studio lights went out but the live broadcast continued for at least 15 minutes.
An Ecuadorian police force storms into the premises of Ecuadorian television station TC after gunmen broke into the state television studio live on January 9
Ecuadorian soldiers take security measures with an armored military vehicle on roads after the Ecuadorian president declared an “internal armed conflict.”
Armored trucks were seen on the streets of the Ecuadorian capital Quito
A TC employee said in a WhatsApp message: “Please, they have come to kill us.”
“God, don’t let this happen.”
“The criminals are on the air.”
Journalists were reportedly heard shouting on the screen: “They want to kill us all.”
One of the hooded men who attacked the set reportedly said: “We're on the air so they know we're not playing with the mafia.”
President Daniel Noboa, 36, (pictured) has sent the army onto the streets and declared a state of “internal armed conflict”.
Gunmen broke into the set of a live broadcasting public television station in Ecuador and threatened people as the country suffered a series of attacks after the government declared a state of emergency following the apparent escape of a powerful gang leader from prison
Men were seen brandishing what appeared to be bombs and grenades (pictured)
After about 30 minutes of chaos, police officers were seen entering the studio while someone shouted that they “have a wounded companion.”
All of the gunmen who broke into the studio have been arrested, a police commander said.
Alina Manrique, TC Television's news director, said she was in the control room across from the studio when the masked men entered the building.
One of the men pointed a gun at her head and told her to lie on the ground, she said.
Some of the attackers ran from the studio and tried to hide elsewhere in the building when they realized they were surrounded by police, she added.
“I’m still in shock,” Ms. Manrique told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “Everything collapsed.
“All I know is that it’s time to leave this country and go very far away.”
Shortly after the gunmen stormed the television station, President Noboa issued another decree classifying 20 drug trafficking gangs operating in the country as terrorist groups and authorizing the Ecuadorian military to “neutralize” the groups – under international humanitarian law.
The television studio in the port city of Guayaquil in western Ecuador was stormed
The head of Ecuador's national police announced a short time later that authorities had arrested all of the masked intruders.
Cesar Zapata told Teleamazonas television that officials had confiscated the weapons and explosives.
He did not say how many people were arrested.
“This is an act that should be considered a terrorist attack,” Mr. Zapata added.
President Noboa declared a 60-day national state of emergency on Monday, allowing authorities to suspend rights and mobilize the military in places such as prisons.
The government also imposed a curfew from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Noboa vowed on Monday “not to negotiate with terrorists and not to rest until we restore peace for all Ecuadorians.”
He added that his government has decided to tackle crime.
Noboa was elected in October on a promise to combat rampant drug crime and violence in the South American country – once seen as a bastion of peace but now a major barrier to cocaine trafficking to the United States and Europe.
He vowed Monday to expand the fight against the cartels after a powerful gang leader, Adolfo Macias, known as “Fito,” escaped from prison the day before.
The state of emergency was widely used by Noboa's predecessor, Guillermo Lasso, to counter the wave of violence that has swept the country
Ecuador is plagued by violence from brutal, bloodthirsty gangs fighting for control in increasingly violent turf wars that include gun massacres and beheadings.
Located between the world's top cocaine producers Colombia and Peru, Ecuador has become a hub for domestic and foreign drug cartels blamed for a series of gruesome massacres, kidnappings and extortions.