Ecuadorian police have arrested a former mayor accused of being the top financier of the criminal gang Los Lobos, in a predawn operation across two provinces that netted six people including relatives of the ex-official.
Elías Baldor Bermeo, who served as mayor of the mining canton Camilo Ponce Enríquez from 2019 to 2023, was detained in raids on the provinces of Azuay and El Oro. Interior Minister John Reimberg described the arrest as a heavy blow against criminal economies.
During the searches, officers found gold plates bearing the likeness of deceased Colombian drug trafficker Pablo Escobar, a discovery authorities said reinforced suspicions about the former mayor’s ties to organised crime.
Millions moved through mining companies
Reimberg told a press conference that the investigation showed Bermeo had moved approximately 3.2 million dollars between 2023 and 2025 through mining companies. The minister, who took part in the operation, said Bermeo had been behind illegal mining and explosive attacks. He added that the arrest represented the fall of one of Los Lobos’ principal financiers, an organisation that used illegal mining to generate millions of dollars and spread violence.
Ecuador’s Attorney General’s Office is investigating an alleged money-laundering scheme in which illegal mining and explosives distribution are the predicate offences. Prosecutors say the inquiry focuses on the export of large quantities of gold without valid mining concessions or a lawful origin for the mineral.
Around 300 police officers, 11 prosecutors, staff from the Financial and Economic Analysis Unit and intelligence agencies took part. Investigators seized 13 vehicles, cash, documents and electronic devices from properties in Camilo Ponce Enríquez and Machala, where four companies were inspected. The case remains at a preliminary stage.
A canton marked by violence
Bermeo had faced earlier legal proceedings, including a 2024 summons for alleged sabotage when prosecutors accused him of inciting obstruction of a public road. He also survived a shooting in February 2023 in which he was struck in the legs, and in June 2022 an attack on a mine he owned left three people dead and five wounded.
Camilo Ponce Enríquez became Ecuador’s most violent canton by homicide rate in 2024, according to police, who attribute the crisis to criminal economies including illegal mining and territorial disputes.
Los Lobos was designated by the United States in 2024 as the country’s largest drug-trafficking organisation. Members of the group were convicted in connection with the 2023 assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.
Reimberg said the investigation would continue against leaders, financiers and collaborators within the structure, writing on his X account that nothing and no one would stop the operation.
