On 13 February 2025, Ecuador’s National Police, through its Fuerza Investigativa Anticriminal, carried out operation Gran Fenix 08 in Sucumbios, Orellana, Tungurahua, El Oro, Guayas, Los Rios and Manabi against a criminal structure linked to the armed groups Los Lagartos and Comandos de Frontera, dedicated to large-scale international drug trafficking.[1] Officers carried out 15 searches and detained 14 people under arrest warrants, including two high-value targets, Darwin G., alias Patron, detained in Manabi, and Marcelo Q., alias Cerapo, detained in Sucumbios, plus an intermediate-value target, Juan S., alias Raton, captured in Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas.[1] The two high-value detainees were described by the Ecuadorian authorities as the principal leaders of these organisations.[2]
In the operation police seized 28,600 grams of marijuana, alongside cocaine, and also retained 37 vehicles and seized 6 firearms.[1] Press accounts of the same searches reported 28.1 kilos of marijuana found in the properties, with the same counts of six firearms and 37 vehicles.[2] Police said the organisation had set up multiple bases on farms and in front businesses to consolidate its operations.[2]
El Comercio corroborated the same results for operation Gran Fenix 8: 14 detainees and 28.1 kilos of marijuana alongside cocaine, firearms and vehicles.[3]
