8 bodies found in plastic bags with notes left at drug-trafficking scene in Ecuador

Eight bodies have been found in plastic bags in a drug-trafficking area in the southwest, where eight people went missing on Sunday, Ecuadorian police said Wednesday.

“It has been confirmed that there are eight bodies” found on the outskirts of the town of Babahoyo, Col. Galo Munoz, the chief of police in this area, told the media.

Adoption comes between a A military attack supported by the US from organized crime groups that have transformed Ecuador from one of the safest countries in South America to one of the deadliest.

Eight people, some of whom were related, disappeared on Sunday from Daule to Milagro, about 30 kilometers south of Babahoyo.

Interior Minister John Reimberg said a letter found at the scene suggests the victims, who have not yet been identified, were targeted by the Los Lobos gang, as part of their war with rival Los Choneros.

Los Lobos (The Wolves) and Los Choneros (after the city of Chone) are among the leading drug-trafficking gangs in Ecuador, with ties to international cartels. In September, Los Lobos was designated a terrorist organization is the United States.

Modesto Freire, the state prosecutor in Milagro, said that the two people who were reported missing were children, according to their families, they are farmers in Daule, which is an area where rice is grown.

Ecuador serves as the gateway to international markets for 70% of the cocaine that comes from neighboring Colombia and Peru, the world’s leading producers of the drug.

The fight to control the drug trade has led to outbreaks of violence, especially in the port cities of Guayaquil and Manta, through which most of the drugs are trafficked.

In January, police found the bodies of six youths who had gone on a motorcycle ride in Santa Elena province, near Guayas province, where Guayaquil is located.

Ecuador recorded more than 9,200 violent deaths last year – a record high.

Right-wing President Daniel Noboa, a staunch ally of President Trump, has imposed curfews and sent troops to several states to try to crack down on criminals.

American commandos you just joined Ecuadorian soldiers in a joint operation aimed at dismantling a suspected criminal base used by a suspected narco-terrorist organization off the coast of the country.

In early March, the United States and Ecuador were introduced joint military operations against “select terrorist organizations” in the country.

A criminal gang violence continues unabated in Ecuador following the June 2025 recapture of a drug lord in the country, Adolfo Macíaswho leads Los Choneros, after his escape from a maximum security prison in 2024. In July 2025, the government of Ecuador let out Macías in the United States, where he is facing multiple drug and gun trafficking charges.