Albania-linked Savage gang leader escapes prison as cartels battle for power in Ecuador

Troops guard a subway train in Quito as bandits threaten random executions in the country's second day of terror Photo: AFP via Getty Images

Leader Albanian-linked gang known as «The Savage» has escaped from prison in Ecuador as criminal cartels escalate the power struggle on the country's streets.

Fabricio Colon Pico was one of 38 prisoners who escaped from Riobamba's central prison after the guards were taken hostage amid a wave of bloodshed that has gripped the South American country in recent days.

The 44-year-old man is the alleged leader of the Lobos, or Wolves, gang. He was most recently arrested four days ago on suspicion of involvement in a plot to assassinate Ecuador's attorney general.

Linked to various Albanian mafias, Lobos is believed to be responsible for smuggling significant amounts of cocaine from neighboring Colombia and Peru. via Ecuador.

His escape on Tuesday came as Ecuador's armed forces clashed with organized crime, deploying more than 22,000 soldiers to quell a campaign of terror waged by gangs that has already claimed 16 lives.

With guns on the streets , patrols by land, sea and air, random searches of people and vehicles, prison raids and curfews, President Daniel Noboa's government has vowed not to relent in its «war» on 22 gangs labeled as terrorist. organization.

“They wanted to instill fear, but they aroused our anger,” said Gian Carlo Loffredo, the country’s defense minister.

“They believed that they would subjugate the whole country, but they forgot, that the armed forces are preparing for war.»

The spike in violence appears to have been sparked by the escape of Pico's arch-rival, Adolfo «Fito» Macias, on Sunday from another jail in Guayaquil, a debilitating prison. The Pacific port is the epicenter of Ecuador's brutal drug conflict.

Macias, 44, is the head of the Choneros gang, linked to the Sinaloa cartel of jailed Mexican kingpin Joaquin «El Chapo» Guzman.