2023-12-16 20:57:59
The British honorary consul in the coastal city of Guayaquil in Ecuador, Colin Armstrong, was kidnapped in the state of Los Rios in the southwest of the country, police reported on Saturday.
The diplomat, who is also the owner of an agricultural company, was kidnapped in the early hours of the morning from his farm in the Baba area.
The police said in a message on the X platform that they are conducting an investigation into Los Rios, while neither the UK Embassy nor the Ecuadorian Ministry of Foreign Affairs have made any comment yet.
In recent years, Ecuador has become an operations center for drug cartels, both foreign and local, with rampant murders, kidnappings, and extortion.
Violent gangs control prisons and neighborhoods in many cities and ports.
The rate of murders at the national level has increased fourfold since 2018, jumping from six crimes to 26 crimes per 100,000 population.
Ecuador is located between Colombia and Peru, the world’s largest cocaine producers. A record quantity of drugs was confiscated on its territory in 2021, amounting to 210 tons.
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