One of Ecuador's most wanted drug traffickers was captured Sunday, years after he faked his death and moved to Spain.

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa said that Wilmer Chavarria, also known as "Pipo," was captured in the Spanish city of Malaga in a joint operation with Spanish police. In a message on X, Spain's National Police posted a photo of Chavarria wearing a black and green track suit as he was escorted by police officers toward a patrol car.

Chavarria is believed to be the leader of Los Lobos, a drug trafficking group with around 8,000 fighters that was recently designated a terrorist organization by the United States. Los Lobos has been linked to political assassinations in Ecuador and has also been accused of working closely with Mexico's Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

Noboa said Chavarria faked his death in 2021 during the COVID pandemic, obtained a new identity and moved to Spain, from where he coordinated drug shipments, ordered assassinations and ran extortion rackets against gold mines in Ecuador.

Ecuador was one of the most peaceful countries in South America in the early 2010s. But the nation of 18 million people has experienced a spike in homicides and other violent crimes, as it becomes a key transit point for cocaine produced in neighboring Colombia and Peru. Drug trafficking gangs have attacked presidential candidates, municipal officials and journalists as they fight for control over ports and coastal cities.

Chavarria's capture comes as Ecuadorians vote on a four-part referendum, where they will be asked if the nation's constitution should be amended to allow foreign countries to run military bases in Ecuador.

Noboa has argued that this reform is necessary to further anti-drug cooperation with countries like the United States and increase pressure on drug traffickers.

The U.S. last year declared Los Lobos to be the largest drug trafficking organization in Ecuador and imposed sanctions of "Pipo."

Earlier this year, another leader of Los Lobos, Carlos D, was arrested Friday at his home in the coastal city of Portoviejo. Widely known by his alias "El Chino," he was the second-in-command of the crime syndicate and "considered a high-value target."

Criminal gang violence continues unabated following the recapture in June of the country's biggest drug lord, Adolfo Macías, who leads the Los Choneros gang, after his escape from a maximum-security prison in 2024. In July, the Ecuadoran government extradited Macias to the United States, where he faces multiple drug trafficking and firearms charges.

U.S. officials say Los Lobos emerged as a branch of hitmen working within Los Choneros, which rose to power independently in 2020 when a former Los Choneros leader's assassination left cracks in the gang's command structure. Los Lobos is accused in the assassination of Ecuador's 2023 presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, and gang members are said to be responsible for deadly prison riots in addition to drug trafficking, murder-for-hire and illegal gold mining operations.

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