His police Ecuador arrested the country’s most wanted fugitive, the baronAdolfo Masia Villamar – also known as “El Fito”.
Macías is the leader of Los Choneros, a strong criminal gang accused of converting Ecuador from a tourist shelter into a country with one of the highest murder rates in the area. The drug baron “El Fito” is also suspected that he ordered the assassination of the candidate for the presidency of Fernando Viavissenio in 2023.
Police found him in an underground shelter under a luxurious house in the city of Ecuador.
A police spokesman said there were no shots during the 10 -hour joint police and army.
A large number of police officers initially attended and surrounded the three -storey house in Moderrei’s neighborhood on the coast of Ecuador.
#NOW | This was the capture of aka Fito, leader of a criminal organization, carried out by the security block in a precise and without casualty operation. pic.twitter.com/boXzfLJLeE
– Notimundo (@Notimundoec) June 25, 2025
When they invaded the building, they found a sliding hatch, camouflaged to look like part of the stone floor, from which metal stairs led to the underground fito hideout.
The “shelter” was equipped with air conditioning, bed, fan and fridge. The house itself had a boxing gym with a boxing sack and a toy room where it could play billiards and board football.
Fito allegedly did not resist and was transferred to the city-Limani Guayakil, where there are several of Ecuador’s largest prisons.
| In the midst of houses built mostly with cane or precarious materials, the house where José Adolfo Macías Villamar, aka, was hidden #issuein the Monterrey sector, Montecristi canton, bordering #Mantain the province of #Manabí. pic.twitter.com/SxORUCNOv9
– Belén Mendoza (@mmendozabelen) June 26, 2025
Footage from his arrival in Guayakil is shown to be wearing shorts, a t -shirt and flip flops, while armed police officers are taken to a parked SUV before being transferred to the highest security prisons La Roca.
Ecuador President Daniel Noboa praised the security forces for the arrest of Fito and said he would issue a warrant in the US, where he is accused of smuggling cocaine.
El Fito escaped from the La Regional prison in Guayakil in January 2024 with the help of at least two guards, sparking the attention of the global media.
This triggered a wave of deadly riots in prisons, in which the guards were hostage, and prompted Noboa to declare an emergency.
But Fito was already infamous before his escape. During his imprisonment – while he was sentenced to 34 years in prison for murder and drug trafficking – he climbed to the top of the Los Choneros gang after the murder of its previous leader.
From the prison, he coordinated the gang activities, which include drug trafficking and blackmail.
Captured in Manabi Adolfo Macías Villamar aias Fito Chief of the Choneros #Elsuerodelaverdad pic.twitter.com/j4xoTMoMBY
– The serum of truth (@suerodlaverdad1) June 25, 2025
He is also suspected that he ordered the murder of political Fernando Villavissenio, who was deadly shot at a pre -election rally a few days before the 2023 elections.
Under the leadership of El Fito, Los Choneros forged links with the powerful Mexican Sinala cartel, an alliance that, according to experts, led to the spread of horrifying tactics commonly used by Mexican cartels – such as beheadings.
Shortly before his escape from prison, he also appeared in a “Narcocorrido” – a music video in which his daughter praises her father’s criminal accomplishments.
The escape of the gang leader in 2024 was a blow to the Nobya government. The Ecuador’s leader had taken over his duties in November 2023, after being elected with the promise to combat the growing power of gangs.
On Wednesday (26.06.2025), Noboa said that the arrest of the drug barrier was proof that his approach – which includes the establishment of laws that give him widespread powers to declare “armed internal conflict” and allowing the police to conduct investigations.
“More [βαρόνοι ναρκωτικών] will fall, we will recover [τον έλεγχο της] Country, “Noboa wrote in X.