QUITO (Reuters) – Ecuador’s attorney general’s office said Thursday it had detained 29 people, including the head of the country’s judicial regulator, as part of an investigation into an alleged drug trafficking scheme.
Some 900 prosecutors and police officers carried out over 75 raids on the offices of the Judiciary Council as well as the homes of judges, prosecutors and police officers early Thursday morning.
Ecuador is experiencing a growing wave of violence, which authorities attribute to drug trafficking gangs, amid a tough economic backdrop and high migration.
Attorney General Diana Salazar said the investigation of the case started after the murder inside a prison last year of accused money launderer Leandro Norero.
The investigation revealed “criminal structures embedded in all levels of the state and directly linked to drug trafficking,” Salazar said in a video broadcast on social media.
Among those arrested were a former police general, as well as personnel from the prisons agency, lawyers and Judiciary Council chief Wilman Teran.
Police identified a “Willman T.” among those accused in a post on social media platform X.
Teran then published a video capturing his arrest, calling it “a persecution.”
President Daniel Noboa, a young businessman who took office last month, has complained about judges and prosecutors who have assisted members of criminal gangs and said their names will be published.
The prosecutor’s office said those detained used money obtained from illegal activities to allegedly bribe judicial officials to obtain legal benefits.
The attorney general’s office warned of a possible escalation of violence in response to the operation.
(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Editing by Alistair Bell)
