The scoring streak of Loco Cortez, forward of the Barcelona Sporting Club of Ecuador, ended this morning with his arrest. The top scorer in the Ecuadorian league, with seven goals in nine games, is in police custody after being captured in an operation against the Los Tiguerones criminal gang, one of the networks that operates in the Latin American country related to drug trafficking. The involvement of the footballer is not circumstantial, according to the Minister of the Interior. Patricio Carrillo revealed this Friday that Gabriel Cortez was the one who “ordered and received information” of murders in the form of contract killers.
“All this is already reserved in an investigation,” the minister said at the press conference on the operation that was completed with 29 raids. The athlete has no criminal record, according to the subsequent police report, but he is being investigated for “alleged participation in crimes against life and the sale of weapons.” Along with Cortez, who was captured at his home in Guayaquil, 17 other people were arrested in the provinces of Guayas, Manabí and Esmeraldas. There are also three active duty police officers involved.
His club, Barcelona of Ecuador, one of the three with the most fans in the country, disclaimed any responsibility. In a statement, he “emphasized that the activities carried out in the private sphere by its players, employees and managers are outside the institution.” Without reproaches, questions or convictions, the soccer team said that it will respect the proceedings of the Justice bodies.
The investigation and intelligence work have lasted four months between the National Police and the Ecuadorian Prosecutor’s Office. The General Commander of the Police, Carlos Fernando Cabrera, attributed to the gang of Los Tiguerones, which operates and controls criminal activity in the border province of Esmeraldas, the crimes of drug trafficking, extortion, arms trafficking, ammunition and explosives, terrorism, assassination and hitman.
“Sufficient evidence and association mechanisms have been found for this entire organization that is responsible for many of the violent acts in that province and in other parts of the country,” assured the Minister of the Interior. Five days ago, an entire family was gunned down in an Esmeraldeño neighborhood. A two-year-old baby died asphyxiated, crushed by his mother. Of the seven people killed, two were part of that criminal network.
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The police thesis attributes control of the organization to a ringleader who is in jail in Esmeraldas, Alias Comandante 6 Lala. Esmeraldas borders the south of Colombia and, according to the investigation, Los Tiguerones have connections with the Oliver Sinisterra Front, an armed dissident group of the FARC that has also been linked to drug trafficking and is responsible for the kidnapping and murder of three workers. From the newspaper Trade in March 2018.
After the arrests at dawn, the police entered the Esmeraldas prison this Friday to carry out a review and requisition of weapons. The operation led to incidents with exchanges of fire and at least 12 inmates injured. Six months ago, the director who was in charge of the penitentiary system when a wave of internal confrontations arose already placed the Los Tiguerones gang as one of the six that dispute control of the prisons and the territory for the distribution of drugs. in all the country.
Also six months ago, the Ecuadorian sports elite was hit for the first time by crime. The athlete Álex Quiñonez, one of the fastest sprinters in the world, died of several shots in a hitman-style murder in the streets of Guayaquil, when the country was still under curfew due to the rise in violence.
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