GUAYAQUIL: At least five inmates escaped Friday evening from Ecuador’s vast Guayaquil prison complex, with two of them caught shortly afterward during a vast search operation, police sources said.

Shortly after their escape, two helicopters, as well as drones, were seen flying over the surroundings of the huge prison, on the northern outskirts of the city. They used powerful searchlights aimed at the ground to try to locate the fugitives, with two of them recaptured, according to officers at the scene.

Authorities and the prison administration have not made an official statement so far. Following the incident, dozens of police officers supported by soldiers could be seen patrolling around the prison, where Ecuador’s most dangerous criminals are held. A cordon of around 10 men, equipped with bullet-proof shields, took up position at the main entrance to the penitentiary. Traffic on the nearby highway was not interrupted. Since Sunday, the small South American country has been plunged into an unprecedented security crisis sparked by the escape from Guayaquil prison of one of the country’s most powerful narco bosses, Jose Adolfo Macias, known by the alias “Fito.”

His escape was followed by prison riots, hostage-taking and attacks on the police. At least 18 people have been killed while 178 guards and prison employees remain hostage. President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency and ordered the army to neutralize the “terrorist” criminal gangs.

More than 22,400 soldiers were deployed, with land, air and sea patrols, searches and raids carried out in prisons, while a curfew was imposed. Once a bastion of peace situated between major cocaine producers, Ecuador has been plunged into crisis after years of growing control by transnational cartels that use its ports to ship the drug to the United States and Europe.

Criminal gangs in the country of about 17 million people are thought to have more than 20,000 members. According to the latest official report, 859 suspects have been arrested, 25 escaped detainees have been recaptured, five “terrorists” shot dead and 57 kidnapped people have been released. A chilling video filmed in Machala prison in the southwest of the country and confirmed by police shows the corpse of a prisoner wrapped in plastic being thrown into the street from inside the jail, which is under the control of inmates. Other images have emerged over the past two days showing arrested suspected gang members being ridiculed, forced to sing, hitting each other or being mistreated by soldiers. —AFP