One of Ecuador’s most wanted drug traffickers was arrested in Spain on Sunday — four years after faking his own death from COVID-19 and allegedly controlling a drug trafficking group from afar, according to authorities.
Wilmer Chavarria, also known as “Pipo,” was arrested in Malaga in a joint operation with Spanish and Ecuadorian police, Spain’s National Police posted on X.
The alleged leader of the Los Lobos group was seen in an image released by the department being escorted to a patrol car by two officers while wearing a black-and-green tracksuit.
Los Lobos (Spanish for “The Wolves”) is a drug trafficking group with around 8,000 members. The crime group was designated a terrorist organization by the US in September, according to a US Department of State press release.
The infamous gang has been linked to political assassinations in Ecuador and has been accused of working closely with Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
Chavarria faked his death, snagged a new identity, moved to Spain and hid in Europe while allegedly orchestrating the criminal enterprise, according to Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa.
His family had claimed that he had died in 2021 after suffering from a heart attack due to COVID, the BBC reported.
While hiding out, Chavarria helped coordinate drug shipments, ordered assassinations in Ecuador and controlled illegal mining operations, Noboa claimed in a post on X Sunday.
“Some wrote him off as dead; we hunted him down in his very own hell. That’s the difference when there’s the will to fight for your country,” Noboa wrote in a translated post.
“I recognize and thank the joint efforts of the Ecuadorian and Spanish National Police. To combat transnational crime, international cooperation is a necessity,” he said.
“We have captured the highest-value target. Today the mafias fall back. Today Ecuador wins.”
Ecuador was one of the most peaceful countries in South America in the early 2010s, but it has recently experienced skyrocketing cases of homicides and violent crime.
Drug trafficking gangs have led attacks on presidential candidates, municipal officials, and journalists to fight for control along ideal ports in the key transit hub for cocaine produced in Colombia and Peru.
The arrest comes as Ecuadorians voted Sunday to strike down a proposal to let foreign countries run military bases in the country of 18 million people.
It was a defeat for Noboa, who has argued that this reform is necessary to further anti-drug cooperation with countries like the United States and increase pressure on drug traffickers.
“International cooperation is the only way to dismantle these (drug trafficking) groups, which are transnational criminal networks,” Noboa said after casting his ballot.
The conservative leader even recently met with US officials to discuss security and migration issues, and gave Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a tour of a potential military base that could host US troops.
With Post wires
