Ecuador's most wanted criminal captured after hiding in underground bunker

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(26 Jun 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Quito, Ecuador - 26 June 2025
1. Various of Ecuador's Defense Minister Giancarlo Loffredo and Interior Minister John Reimberg at a press conference to give details of the capture of José Adolfo Macías, alias Fito
2. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Giancarlo Loffredo, Minister of Defense of Ecuador:
"Through a surgical operation, we apprehended Ecuador's most wanted criminal of all time. This is a victory that took a long time and a lot of effort by the security block. Interventions throughout the country, information gathering, and it is only the constant pressure and not giving up in the effort that has achieved the capture of alias Fito".
3. Journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) John Reimberg, Minister of the Interior of Ecuador:
"The excavating machinery arrived, and at that moment, they began to dig. When this happened, alias Fito panicked because if we continued (digging), the roof of his bunker would collapse. At that moment, he opened the hatch where there were already military and police personnel and got out of the hole he was in. That is how we were able to apprehend and detain alias Fito".
5. Media
6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) John Reimberg, Minister of the Interior of Ecuador:
"Regarding his extradition, that is up to the U.S. government. We have done our part. And I hope that in the next few hours or days at the most we will have information about the extradition process. But until that happens, Fito is in a safe place waiting for (them)".

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Guayaquil, Ecuador - 25 June 2025
9. Various of members of the armed forces and national police taking José Adolfo Macías, alias Fito, off the plane to put him in an armored car and transfer him to a maximum security prison
STORYLINE:
Ecuador’s government on Thursday released details about the dramatic arrest of the country’s most wanted criminal, José Adolfo Macías Villamar, also known as “Fito.”

Macías, a top leader of the Los Choneros criminal organization, was found hiding in an underground bunker in a house in Manta, a port city about 160 miles (260 kilometers) southwest of Quito.

Authorities say that despite the presence of 200 soldiers at the property, Macías refused to come out, and it wasn’t until heavy machinery began excavation near the house that he emerged from a hidden hatch in the floor, fearing he might be crushed.

Defense Minister Giancarlo Loffredo and Interior Minister John Reimberg confirmed the capture.

Macías had escaped from a prison in Guayaquil in January 2024 and had been on the run for over 18 months.

"The excavating machinery arrived, and at that moment, they began to dig. When this happened, alias Fito panicked because if we continued (digging), the roof of his bunker would collapse" said Reimberg.

Following his arrest on Wednesday, Macías was transferred to La Roca, a maximum-security prison in Guayaquil.

Officials say he is now awaiting a possible extradition to the United States.

"We have done our part. And I hope that in the next few hours or days at the most we will have information about the extradition process." added Reimberg.

In April, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York indicted him on multiple charges, including conspiracy to distribute cocaine internationally, international cocaine distribution, firearms smuggling, and conspiracy to fraudulently acquire firearms. If convicted, he could face up to 100 years in prison.

Authorities said the discovery of an irregular plantation on the property helped lead them to the hidden bunker.



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