Seoul Gazette - Ecuador police defuse bomb strapped to guard

NYSE - LSE

RIO	0.51%	105.89	$
BTI	-2.06%	61.06	$
BCE	-0.99%	24.04	$
CMSC	0.04%	22.34	$
BCC	0.63%	71.59	$
RBGPF	3.42%	62.87	$
NGG	-0.33%	81.57	$
GSK	-1.55%	52.23	$
BP	-2.86%	41.59	$
RELX	-2.74%	32.84	$
RYCEF	5.91%	18.11	$
JRI	0.89%	12.78	$
VOD	-3.53%	15	$
AZN	-0.83%	177.27	$
CMSD	0.27%	22.32	$

Ecuador police defuse bomb strapped to guard

BOULEVARD 31.03.2023

Ecuadoran explosives experts defused a bomb on the streets of Guayaquil Thursday that criminals had strapped to a security guard after his employer refused to pay protection money, police and media said.

Text size:

In a video released by the police late Thursday, the man is seen with packages taped to his chest -- tubes and wires sticking into the air.

As onlookers took video and photos from a safe distance, police covered the man in a protective vest and helmet and led him away to deactivate the bomb.

The man came out of the ordeal in good health, police said.

Images widely distributed on social media showed the man pacing up and down the street, putting his hand to his head, as he waited for help to arrive.

"I congratulate the courage and professional work of our police officers and the anti-explosive team in disabling the... explosive device," police chief Fausto Salinas wrote on Twitter.

Local media reported the victim was a security guard at a jewelery store, and was allegedly taken after its owner refused to be shaken down by criminals.

Guayaquil, in Ecuador's southwest, is one of the most violent cities in a country gripped by a wave of crime blamed on gang rivalries.

Kidnappings and extortion are commonplace.

Ecuador is sandwiched between Colombia and Peru, the world's two largest cocaine producers, and has itself become a hub for the global drug trade in recent years.

Earlier this month, letter bombs were sent to at least five journalists working in TV and radio in Guayaquil and the capital Quito.

President Guillermo Lasso has declared war on gangs who control the drug trade from prisons engulfed by extreme violence and riots that have left more than 400 inmates dead since 2021.

Ecuador has seen its murder rate jump from 14 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2021 to 25 per 100,000 in 2022.

O. Petrow--BTZ

Featured

Vast areas of coral reef could resist climate change: study

In the crystalline waters off Kenya's coast, coral reefs are thriving -- evidence of a rare good news story in the battle to protect oceans from the ravages of climate change.

Eight dead in fiery US bomber crash in California: military

Eight people died when a US B-52 bomber crashed and erupted into a catastrophic fire shortly after takeoff at an air force base in California on Monday, officials said.

'They want to destroy us': Shock and anger as Russian attack sets Kyiv cathedral ablaze

Father Makariy, a high-ranking clergyman at Kyiv's Pechersk Lavra monastery complex, was woken at around 5:00 am with a huge roar -- the cathedral at the heart of one of Orthodox Christianity's most important sites had been set on fire in a Russian attack.

Burnt-out Indonesians beat the blues with children's games

Flushed and sweating, 31-year-old Annisa Enggracia Fidel runs back and forth to defend her fort from invaders -- hundreds of fellow adults all beating the blues by playing a nostalgic Indonesian children's game.