Police consider ways to stop prison drone attacks; Noboa claims ‘mafiosos’ are in National Assembly; 652 ‘irregular’ golds mines investigated by the AG

Police and military officials say they are looking into “high tech” methods of stopping drone attacks like the one that occurred early Thursday morning at La Roca high security prison in Guayaquil. According to the police report, a drone carrying 40 pounds of explosives landed on the prison roof and was detonated “in a controlled manner” by the police Intervention and Rescue Group. The explosion caused extensive damage but there were no injuries to prison staff or inmates.

According to Interior Minister Monica Palencia, the attack was the work of a drug cartel aimed at facilitating the escape of prisoners. “Fortunately the effort failed, and all prisoners are secure,” she said.

Smoke rises from the roof of La Roca prison following a Thursday drone attack.

“We are investigating surveillance techniques that would identify and deter such attacks in the future,” said Jaime Vela, head of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces at a Thursday afternoon news conference. “Until such techniques become available, Vela said La Roca and other prisons housing high-profile criminals, would post trained snipers to shoot down incoming drones.

Among those held at La Roca are former vice President Jorge Glas, former National Assemblyman Pablo Muentes and Carlos Angulo, convicted in the murder of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.

AG’s office investigates more than 652 ‘irregular’ gold mines
The Attorney General’s office says it has evidence that 652 mining concessions were approved illegally by the Mining Regulation and Control Agency (Arcom), a division of the Ministry of Mines. Prosecutors say it believes several employees at the agency accepted bribes from criminal gangs to grant the concessions, almost all of them for gold mining. Police raided Arcom offices in Quito Tuesday, seizing documents and digital records.

“We are investigating what we believe is widespread corruption at Arcom that involves some employees working with criminal gangs to grant mining concessions,” the Attorney General’s offices said. The AG said that many of the “irregular” concessions were in environmentally sensitive areas that are off limits to mining.

Prosecutors are also investigating a significant increase in the number of mining processing plants that have been licensed since 2022. “Many of these plants are unable to verify where mining extracts were produced and do not keep records on the ownership of mines delivering the material,” one prosecutor said. “We think much of the material is produced by illegal mines or mines granted concessions through bribery.”

The prosecutor continued: “Ultimately, we believe large amounts of drug money is laundered through the entire mining network. Our job now is to follow the money.”

Noboa claims ‘mafiosos’ are in National Assembly
In a police ceremony Wednesday in Manta, President Daniel Noboa claimed that drug cartels and gangs have representatives in Ecuador’s National Assembly. “Part of the mafias are in the streets and in the neighborhoods, but others hold seats in the National Assembly,” he said. He suggested that voters should ‘clean house’ in the February election.

During comments on the delivery of vehicles and equipment to the National Police, Noboa praised the success of joint police and military operations against organized crime. “We are dismantling criminal structures, arresting leaders of the terrorist groups, and seizing their drugs and weapons,” he said.

Most important, Noboa said, was protecting the public from drug criminals. “We have reduced crime by almost 20% in 2024 and, in Manabí Province, murders have been reduced by 55%. I am here today to praise the work of the National Police and armed forces but also to ask for the continued support of the Ecuadorian people to help us rid the country of the plague of crime.”