Detainees after a car bomb explosion in Ecuador go to prison

Quito (EFE).- The Ecuadorian judiciary on Friday ordered the pretrial detention of four more people arrested after two car bombs exploded in Quito, bringing the total number of orders to ten in the investigation process.

Based on the incriminating elements presented by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the judge ordered the pretrial detention of the four defendants on charges of terrorism, in the context of a minivan explosion in Quito.

On Friday, justice previously ordered the pretrial detention of the six detainees (five Ecuadorians and one Colombian) after the first car bomb explosion that occurred this week.

The tax investigation in both cases continues for thirty days.

Organized crime behind car bombings

Police Commander-in-Chief Fausto Salinas indicated that one of the hypotheses they are using in the investigation is that behind it is a criminal gang that wants to show off its power after the interventions carried out by state forces in the prisons to disarm these groups that control the prisons internally.

They also consider that among the reasons is the violent protest against the series of prisoner transfers in which the authorities changed the prisons.

The two car bombs exploded near buildings associated with the National Service for the Comprehensive Care of Persons Deprived of Liberty (SNAI), the government department responsible for monitoring and managing Ecuador’s prisons.

The first exploded on Wednesday night in front of a government building in which the offices of the National Alliance were previously located, while the second exploded in the early hours of Thursday morning in front of another building that houses offices for the same government agency.

Neither explosion caused any casualties.

Interior Minister Juan Zapata considered the bombings “acts classified as terrorist acts because they seek to spread terror, panic, and fear in the hearts of citizens.”

New violence in Ecuador

At least two other explosions were recorded during Thursday night in Ecuador, apparently linked to a series of car bomb explosions that exploded since Wednesday in different regions of the country, coinciding with riots in some prisons.

In the Andean city of Cuenca (south), an explosion was recorded in the Totorracocha sector, a firefighter who attended the emergency at the site told the press, where a vehicle could be seen with its structure damaged in the right rear part.

He pointed out that there were no injuries as a result of that explosion, although the windows of a neighboring house were shattered, and he mentioned that on Thursday afternoon another explosion was also reported in Cuenca, but there are no details about that case.

On the other hand, the police announced today, Friday, the arrest of four people who were traveling in a taxi carrying explosive materials.

He pointed out that “the violators of society are allegedly linked to the explosion of a gas tank on the bridge in the Archidona sector in the Naboo region, where no material or personal damage was recorded.”