QUITO: Ecuador’s most notorious drug lord, Adolfo Macias — better known as Fito — has been extradited to the United States, a month after his dramatic recapture following a 2024 escape from a maximum-security prison.
Macias, leader of the powerful Los Choneros gang, was flown to New York state on Sunday night, according to Flightradar data. He is expected to appear in a US federal court Monday to face charges including cocaine trafficking, weapons smuggling, and criminal conspiracy, the US Department of Justice confirmed.
His extradition marks a watershed moment for Ecuador: Macias is the first national to be extradited under a new law approved last year via referendum as part of President Daniel Noboa’s aggressive campaign against organised crime.
A former taxi driver who rose to head one of Ecuador’s most violent gangs, Macias agreed to the extradition in a Quito court last week. He was removed from a maximum-security prison in southwest Ecuador on Sunday to complete the handover process, officials said.
Ecuador’s once-tranquil status as a buffer between Colombia and Peru — the world’s top cocaine producers — has rapidly eroded. In recent years, escalating cartel violence and gang rivalries have plunged the country into crisis. The January 2024 prison escape of Macias triggered weeks of chaos, prompting Noboa to declare an “internal armed conflict” and deploy troops and tanks nationwide.
Los Choneros, Macias’s gang, is reportedly linked to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, Colombia’s Gulf Clan, and Balkan mafia networks, according to Ecuador’s Organised Crime Observatory.
After a months-long manhunt, Macias was captured on June 25 in a bunker hidden beneath floor tiles in a luxury home in the port city of Manta — the gang’s coastal stronghold. President Noboa, speaking after the arrest, vowed swift extradition: “The sooner the better.”
In 2024, Ecuador seized a record 294 tons of narcotics, largely cocaine. More than 70 per cent of the world’s cocaine supply now transits through its ports, government data shows. – AFP
