Drug trafficker and most wanted criminal leader in Ecuador Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, known by the nickname Fito, became the first person to be extradited from this country to the US yesterday, EFE reported, quoted by BTA.
This happened after a referendum last year lifted the ban on extraditions, which was included in the constitution.
Fito, leader of "Los Choneros" - the oldest and one of the largest criminal gangs operating in Ecuador, was sent to the States on a US Department of Justice plane for three days after an Ecuadorian court accepted the extradition request filed by the North American country's authorities.
The criminal leader accepted in a court hearing on Friday to be sent to the United States because of the risk of being targeted by criminal gangs in “La Roca“, the maximum security prison in Ecuador, where he has been held since he was captured by Ecuadorian authorities on June 25.
Fito had become a major target of the government of President Daniel Noboa as part of the “war“ that he launched in 2024 against organized crime. He was captured in an underground bunker built under a house in the city of Manta, the cradle and bastion of “Los Choneros“.