TECHNOLOGY. The printing of weapons is an alert in countries of Europe and America.
The manufacture of weapons with 3D printers evolved and reached Ecuador, where criminal gangs have this resource, as well as monitoring centers and drones.
Technology is part of human evolution, although it is not necessarily used in favor of it. An example of this are the devices with which the country’s criminal gangs promote the commission of crimes.
In April 2023, LA HORA revealed that criminals use drones to fly over urbanizations, in order to carry out tasks of reconnaissance of a space and then assault it.
However, drones are just one of the technological elements used by criminal gangs, many of which are dedicated to drug trafficking and linked to large cartels and foreign mafias.
gun print
After eight months of investigation (from September 2022 to April 2023), the National Police and the Armed Forces, together with specialists from the United States, dismantled an organization that engaged in international trafficking and the production of firearmswhich were marketed nationally.
Among the evidence found after operations in Manabí were rifles and a 3D printer. Alias ’Guerra’ – according to the Police – programmed the data of weapons brought from the United States, printed the parts of the weapons and, finally, a ex-military armed them to enter the illegal market.
This practice is for “export”, says Ramiro Ojeda, a sociologist who is an expert in citizen security, who adds that the printing of weapons already generates alerts in several European countries.
The market is wide in the generation of materials that allow the printing of weapons and their components, quickly and cheaply. “The advantage of this is that they are more difficult to trace or detect because they are plastic and do not have serial numbers.”
“Weapons made by 3D printers are expected to reach a new target group, people who are not only in the criminal circuit, but who want to have a firearm, such as people with extremist ideas, potential terrorists,” says a Statement from the Mexican embassy in Belgium, sent to the security office of the Central American country, on July 30, 2022.
@lahora.ec New modality of theft? ???? Criminals use drones to fly over houses and then rob them. Hit play ▶️ and find out.♬ Runaway Girl – Stuart Moore
surveillance centers
Any person, company or institution that places video cameras on public roads must request an authorization from municipal entities, through their Security secretariats.
There is great danger in not knowing who owns the cameras placed on public roads, since the public sees them and comes to think that they are placed for security, when the opposite could be the case.
There is a history of criminals using cameras to monitor potential victims or their drug shipments.
In April of this year, in an operation in Yaguachí (Guayas), 11 people suspected of crimes such as extortion, murder and robbery in road axes. For this last crime, the gang had a monitoring center with surveillance cameras on the roads that join Yaguachi with Durán and Milagro, informed the Police.
Residents and passersby believed that they were video surveillance cameras from ECU-911 or from the National Police.
In April 2022, a similar finding occurred in Guasmo, in the south of Guayaquil. Police and military discovered that the area was being monitored by a drug-criminal gang, which had installed its own video surveillance system.
They also found houses with armored doors and speed breakers that the gang members built with the intention of stopping the police patrol cars. “With a dump truck and a backhoe, dozens of speedbreakers were eliminated,” said the Police. (AVV)
How does a 3D printer work?
They work in a similar way to Inkjet printers. The small and fundamental difference is that instead of paint on two dimensionsthe machines deposit the material in successive layers to create a three-dimensional (solid) object.
En 1980 se presentaron las primeras patentes de impresoras 3D.
Choneros, Tiguerones y Lobos son las organizaciones que intentan controlar el tráfico de armas en la provincia de Manabí.
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