Powerful Ecuador drug lord 'Fito' extradited to US
Los Choneros is blamed for Ecuador's transformation from a tourist haven to a country with one of the highest murder rates in the region.More than 70% of all cocaine produced in the world currently passes through Ecuador's ports. The country is located between the world's two top cocaine exporters, Colombia and Peru. In June, police tracked Macías down to what they described as an underground bunker below a luxury home in the city of Manta. He was taken to La Roca, a maximum security prison. At the time, Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa praised the security forces for capturing him and said that he would be extradited to the US.The country's prison authority said he was taken out of prison in Ecuador earlier on Sunday to be handed over to US authorities. "Mr Macías and I will appear tomorrow before the Brooklyn federal court ... where he will plead not guilty," his lawyer, Alexei Schacht, told Reuters. "After, he will be held in a to-be-determined prison."Ecuadoreans voted in favor of allowing the extradition of citizens in a referendum called by President Noboa, who vowed to crack down on rising crime.In March this year, Noboa told the BBC he wants US, European and Brazilian armies to join his "war" against criminal gangs.
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Doctoral student faces life term for Idaho killings, but motive may remain unknown
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