Suspected gang leader shot dead in flower bouquet ambush at airport

An Ecuadorean man, who police accuse of leading a faction of one of the country's most feared criminal gangs, has been shot dead as he was leaving the airport in Ecuador's largest city, Guayaquil.Security footage shows two young men waiting outside the arrivals terminal holding stuffed toys and flowers before one of them approaches the victim, pulls his gun from behind a teddy and shoots him point-blank.Police have detained two teenagers in connection with the crime, the latest in a widespread wave of gang violence. This latest deadly shooting came just a day after Ecuador's president declared a fresh state of emergency in 10 provinces, including Guayas, where the attack unfolded.Ecuador's interior minister, John Reimberg, identified the victim of Wednesday's attack as 39-year-old Carlos Alberto Suástegui Villanueva, who he said was the leader of the Los Águilas gang in El Triunfo, a region east of Guayaquil.Los Águilas, which was designated as a "terrorist organisation" by Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa in 2024, is accused of being heavily involved in drug trafficking and extortion.It is one of several gangs whose criminal activities have turned Ecuador from a relatively safe haven to a crime hotspot with one of the highest murder rates in the Western Hemisphere over recent years.Ecuador is located between Colombia and Peru, the world's two largest producers of coca, the base ingredient in cocaine, and has become the key corridor for the drug to be smuggled to the US, Europe and beyond.