2023-08-31 04:57:22
A video on social networks shows the moment of the explosion of a vehicle in an area of downtown Quito. The Police of Ecuador reported that, preliminarily, it is a car on fire where the flames caused a series of explosions.
A car was set on fire and at least four explosions were heard on Wednesday night in a commercial area of Quitoin an event that raised concern regarding the climate of violence that exists in Ecuador.
According to a video circulating on social networks, a person was concerned when considering that an alleged car bomb has been located near his home, when other explosions are heard and the people who are in the place flee the site.
The Police reported that the event took place between Amazonas and Robles avenues and that, preliminary, it is a car on fire where the flames caused a series of explosions.
“Our police units immediately deployed to collect further evidence,” the Police said in a brief statement in which it mentioned that “there is material damage to the vehicle and no victims have been recorded for this event.”
A car on fire and several explosions in a commercial area in the center of Quito
Investigate incident
He Quito Municipalityin a message on social networks, indicated that “the incident is currently under investigation by specialized units of the Police” and that the site “is the Explosives team of the Intervention and Rescue Group (GIR), who must determine the circumstances of the explosion, and whether or not there was a detonator”.
According to images from the site, next to the charred car there is a cylinder that, according to neighbors, might be from a gas cylinder.
Under this modality, several car bombs were registered last year that exploded in the port city of Guayaquilprecedents that made the inhabitants of the area think that it might be a similar attack, now in the capital Quito.
People close to the investigation opined that it might be an attack by one of the criminal gangs operating in the country.
An unofficial source indicated that the event may probably be related to the transfer from prison of a criminal leader known as “Gordo Luis” to the maximum security prison La Roca (maximum security), located near the city of Guayaquil.
The subject was captured on July 6 in Colombia by authorities of that country and handed over to his Ecuadorian counterparts, who place him as the leader of the “Los Lobos” gang, with ties to the Nueva Generación cartel allied to that of Jalisco (Mexico).
The source noted that the headquarters of the National Comprehensive Care Service (SNAI) for Persons Deprived of Liberty, the country’s prison control agency, previously worked at the place where the car exploded.
The event occurred a few hours following the Police reported on the results of a search carried out this Wednesday in the Latacunga prison, in the Andean province of Cotopaxi, within the framework of intervention operations in prisons for the control of weapons and explosives.
More than 2,200 police and military officers participated in the search of said prison, where they found bladed weapons, alcohol and electronic equipment, among other objects prohibited in prisons.
The military and police intervention in the Cotopaxi prison caused prison riots in the cities of Cuenca and Azogues, the provincial capitals of Azuay and Cañar.
In the Cuenca prison, the prisoners detained a group of prison guards, as confirmed by the SNAI, although it did not detail the number of officials detained.
These three prisons (Latacunga, Cuenca and Azogues) are allegedly controlled by the Los Lobos criminal gang.
(With information from EFE)
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