OPERATIONAL. –
A severe blow to an alleged large-scale criminal organization occurred in the early hours of Thursday, December 14, 2023, as raids were carried out in the provinces of Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, Manabí, Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, Loja, Guayas and Pichincha , at least 29 people were detained, including judges, prosecutors, police, lawyers, prison guides, among others.
The gendarmes raided a lawyer’s office in Riobamba.
The operation called “Metastasis” investigates an alleged case of organized crime, since among those detained are the National President of the Judiciary Council, Wilman Terán, officers from the police leadership of several provinces and lawyers.
Regarding the work that was done in Chimborazo, it was learned that the director of the Judiciary Council of this province, Álex Palacios, had been arrested in Quito, and his offices located on the upper floors of the Provincial Court of Justice of Chimborazo were raided apparently at 06:30, by agents of the National Police and Prosecutor’s Office.
In these offices of the Judiciary Council, several clues were collected, including an agenda and computer devices, the same ones that entered the chain of custody.
The uniformed officers took various evidence.
However, after 7:45 a.m., the office of lawyer Cristian R., which is located in front of the Chimborazo Prosecutor’s Office, was also raided. In the legal study – related to the cause being investigated in the Metastasis case – in Riobamba, the gendarmes collected other evidence such as a laptop, documentation, payment records and the deeds of a company in Panama.
Likewise, in the early hours of Thursday, after 1:00 a.m., the Prosecutor’s Office carried out another raid in Riobamba, in which evidence was found such as: cell phones, a laptop, 2 storage devices and documentation. In addition, one person was arrested for carrying a firearm without a permit.
The offices of the management of the Judiciary Council of Chimborazo were raided.
None of the authorities in the province of Chimborazo gave any version of the operation that was carried out; However, the State Attorney General, Diana Salazar, learned through the official account of the Prosecutor’s Office in “X”, commented that the investigation of this case began after the violent death of Leandro Norero, who was one of the main drug traffickers of the world, who financed Los Lobos and supported gangs linked to the Mexican cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación. In addition, the investigation involves public officials and criminal gangs. There were 75 simultaneous raids in seven provinces and more than 900 people participated, including teams from the Prosecutor’s Office and the Police.
Finally, Wilman Terán, National President of the Judiciary Council, in a video that was uploaded to social networks, said that: “they want to discredit the work of the Judiciary Council. It’s not that they are going against Wilman Terán, they are going against the entire judicial system. He has committed a crime against the State Attorney General, he has produced an arbitrary and illegal illegitimate order. They arrested me at 12:00 p.m. and they only notified me at 4:00 a.m.,” he said.