Five tourists were abducted, interrogated and killed on a beach in Ayampe, southwestern Ecuador, after a group of drug traffickers mistook them for rivals. President Daniel Noboa expressed “solidarity with the families” of the victims on Saturday, AFP and News.ro reported.

In his X account, the president announced that a person was detained in a case that illustrates the fact that drug traffickers “seek to spread terror.”

“We will not rest until we find others,” emphasized Daniel Noboa.

According to the commander of the local police, Richard Vac, in total, approximately twenty armed men participated in the kidnapping. The group of tourists that arrived in Ayampe on Thursday afternoon included six adults and five children.

“The victims were ‘interrogated,'” said Commander Waka. The bodies of five adults were found hours later with gunshot wounds on a nearby road. The commander added that the attackers “appeared to have mistaken these men for their rivals.”

A wave of violence in Ecuador

36-year-old Daniel Noboa, elected in November as the youngest president in the country’s history, has faced an unprecedented wave of violence since January 7, after the announcement of the escape of dangerous gang leader Adolfo Macias, alias “Fito”.

Riots in prisons, hostage-taking, attacks on law enforcement officers and attacks in the districts… the young head of state had to declare a state of emergency for 60 days, mobilizing more than 22,000 soldiers and policemen on the streets.

Ecuador, once a place of peace, has been ravaged by violence since becoming a major export point for cocaine produced in neighboring Peru and Colombia.

Crime in this country increased by 800% between 2018 and 2023, from six to 46 per 100,000 inhabitants. In 2023, 7,800 murders were recorded and 220 tons of drugs were seized.