Replace: Jackson Rodríguez’s spouse and 5-year-old youngster have been rescued, police mentioned.
Ecuadorian soccer participant Jackson Rodríguez’s spouse and 5-year-old youngster have been kidnapped early Wednesday, police reported, when males broke into their house searching for the Emelec defender, who instructed investigators he hid below a mattress.
The kidnappings befell round 3 a.m. within the coastal metropolis of Guayaquil, police chief Édison Rodríguez mentioned.
In his testimony to police, the 26-year-old fullback mentioned he hid below a mattress when he heard the entrance door being damaged down, in accordance with the police chief. The perpetrators took Rodriguez’s spouse and youngster after asking the girl if Rodríguez was on the residence.
In line with police, Rodríguez noticed at a window “that the individuals were traveling in a gray-colored double-cab pickup truck.”
Jackson Rodriguez of Ecuador’s Emelec reacts throughout a Copa Sudamericana spherical of 16 second leg soccer match in opposition to Argentina’s Defensa y Justicia on the Unico Diego Armando Maradona stadium in La Plata, Argentina, Aug. 8, 2023.
Gustavo Garello/AP
The incident occurred amid a state of emergency declared 10 days in the past by the federal government in 9 areas of the nation, together with the province of Guayas, to which Guayaquil belongs. The measure permits the mobilization of safety forces in these territories to fight the operations of organized crime teams, which authorities blame for the wave of violence.
Ecuador is house to round 20 prison gangs — with hanging names like “Los Freddy Kruegers” and “The Peaky Blinders” — concerned in trafficking, kidnapping and extortion.
Insecurity and crime have plagued Ecuador for 4 years, with a rise within the first few months of the yr, in accordance with the federal government. Between January and March, 2,345 violent deaths have been reported, 742 of which occurred in Guayaquil, positioned about 170 miles southwest of the capital Quito.
The port metropolis is taken into account probably the most harmful areas within the nation. From these ports, unlawful drug shipments are despatched to Europe, Central America and the USA, in accordance with authorities.
Different athletes have been focused up to now. In December, soccer participant Pedro Perlaza, who performed for Liga de Quito, was kidnapped in Esmeraldas, a metropolis positioned about 115 miles northwest of Quito. He was rescued alive a number of days later.
U.S. targets gangs in Ecuador
President Daniel Noboa, who was re-elected to a second time period in elections earlier this month, has urged U.S. particular forces ought to be deployed to Ecuador to sort out drug violence and floated authorized reforms to permit U.S. bases to function within the nation.
At the very least two high-profile Ecuadorian gang leaders focused by the U.S. have made headlines this yr. Earlier this month, the fugitive chief of “Los Cheronos” that relied on hitmen, bribes and navy weapons to do enterprise was indicted in New York Metropolis on fees he imported hundreds of kilos of cocaine into the USA. José Adolfo Macías Villamar — whose nickname is “Fito” — escaped from a jail in Ecuador final yr and isn’t in U.S. custody.
In 2024, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on “Los Choneros.”
Earlier this yr, a frontrunner of one in all Ecuador’s greatest crime syndicates, Los Lobos, was arrested at his house within the coastal metropolis of Portoviejo. Carlos D, extensively identified by his alias El Chino, was the second-in-command of Los Lobos and “considered a high-value target,” the armed forces mentioned in a press release.
The U.S. final yr declared Los Lobos to be the biggest drug trafficking group in Ecuador.
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