In March 2004, serendipity led to the discovery of a 300-meter-long tunnel built inside the old García Moreno prison in Quito. The weight of the truck collapsed the stone pavements covering it and an intervention was carried out. Twenty years later and with the closure of that center in 2014, the channels developed by organized crime groups (OCGs) appear in other scenarios.

Antisocials used the tunnel to steal hydrocarbons from the Santa Elena oil pipeline

It was not the only tunnel in that old prison. In April 2004, it was determined that there was a leak through the excavation that connected to the sewage network. In 2005, a similar structure was recorded in the littoral penitentiary in Guayaquil. The list goes on…

Currently, in the midst of a declared internal armed conflict in Ecuador, technological equipment of the Armed Forces is searching the tunnels and bays of the country’s prisons.

With what type of robot did the Ecuadorian army find tunnels and coves?

The escape of the criminals raises doubts about the existence of the tunnel. In this context, technology becomes an effective ally and must be used precisely to improve and complement the overall work leading to the restoration of peace for Ecuadorians.

The financing of drug trafficking and terrorism is evidenced in investments such as those uncovered in recent days. The response of public power and justice cannot be lukewarm.

Technological implementation on the part of state control cannot be spared in the face of organized crime that does not stop, which shows its economic and structural strength.

The military uses technological equipment to detect tunnels or bays in prisons in Ecuador

In the province of Santa Elena, the armed forces and the national police have just discovered the use of a tunnel of at least 200 meters for the clandestine extraction of fuel from the Libertad-Manta oil pipeline.

The intervention of the state in different areas is notorious, but the criminal capacity forces us to continue the effort and add up so that the arrests are not immediate. We need to discover the flaws that GMOs exploit and remove them. (OR)