Ecuador: Drone bomb attack on maximum security prison foiled

Ecuadorian authorities foiled an attack by a drone equipped with explosives against the maximum security prison in the Ecuadorian port of Guayaquil on Thursday, per the so-called Ecuadorian Security Bloc, made up of the police and military to fight drug trafficking.

The device, which was perched on the roof of the prison, exploded, destroying part of the roof, according to AFP aerial images.

Later, the Security Bloc informed the press that it had carried out "the controlled explosion" of the device after an assessment on how to neutralize the threat.

"The action by the Security Bloc prevented an attack that was intended to be perpetrated in the Guayas No. 3 Deprivation of Liberty Center, known as La Roca, with the purpose of disabling this center," the agency initially indicated in a statement.

It added that an intervention by police, military and prison guards "identified and thwarted the action of a drone with explosives that was flying over" La Roca, which is part of a large prison complex in Guayaquil, in southwestern Ecuador, which holds over 100 high-profile inmates.

Mafia bosses and politicians accused of corruption are held there, as well as former Vice President Jorge Glas, who was arrested last April when police raided the Mexican embassy in Quito, where he was taking asylum. The event led to the rupture of relations between the two nations.

In September 2023, security forces performed a controlled detonation of another drone loaded with explosives that landed on La Roca.

Ecuador's prisons, which have become centers of criminal operations, have been under military control since January, when President Daniel Noboa declared the country in internal armed conflict in the face of an onslaught by drug cartels.

"We will confront each of your constant attempts to regain control of the prison system and the country," the Security Bloc said in a message included in its Thursday note and directed at the "mafias" operating in the country.