Saturday, July 11th 2026 - 07:00 UTC
Ecuador has stepped up cooperation with US agencies on security and migration control in recent months
Ecuador's police arrested four people, including a serving officer and a former immigration-control official, accused of belonging to an alleged network dedicated to smuggling migrants to the United States, the institution said. The arrests were made in simultaneous operations in the provinces of Pichincha, Tungurahua, Carchi and Santa Elena.
According to the investigation, the organization facilitated the irregular movement of people toward US territory through clandestine routes. Those detained were handed over to the courts, and authorities are continuing their inquiries to determine whether more people were involved. The people arrested have been charged and not convicted.
Investigators identified five victims of the network, who were allegedly moved along irregular routes, evading immigration controls in various countries, until they were detained by Mexican authorities and later deported to Ecuador. Those people were under a legal ban on leaving the country, leading police to presume that the officer and the former official — who had worked at the Rumichaca International Bridge, the main border crossing between Ecuador and Colombia — used genuine immigration stamps to bypass controls and keep the departures from being recorded in the system.
