\n<\/p>\n
Last year the murder rate was one of the highest in the world, with more than 9,200 people killed, according to Ecuador’s interior ministry. That’s despite an iron-fisted crackdown by President Noboa over the past two years. Critics say it has backfired. Top crime bosses have been arrested, causing the gangs to fracture, but also to multiply.<\/p>\n
Many here believe the war against the gangs will never be won.<\/p>\n
Captain Bustamante keeps fighting.<\/p>\n
When we join him for another operation he’s lying in wait getting a bird’s eye view of the back alleys from a drone. He sees three figures moving around at the edge of a playground \u2013 “micro-traffickers” – caught in the act, he says. They are at the bottom of the drug chain, selling locally, in minute amounts, not kilos.<\/p>\n
Within minutes he and his team have tracked the suspects to their door. The battering ram is out again, and soon they are in the kitchen, where a middle-aged woman protests, and a young girl bursts into tears.<\/p>\n
The police move from room to room, by torchlight – there’s no power – opening wardrobes and lifting mattresses. Upstairs, they find a hiding place behind a window. A young suspect emerges and is detained. Two others are handcuffed in another room. All three are led away, denying that they were dealing drugs.<\/p>\n
Nearby the captain finds tiny paper packets of “H” stashed in a flowerpot. It’s a highly addictive mix containing small amounts of heroin sold by neighbourhood dealers for $1.00 (\u00a30.75) per packet.<\/p>\n
One of the suspects is charged, and if convicted, he could get five years in jail. Prosecutors release the other two. Senior officers say that happens a lot. They blame corruption in the justice system, and the prosecutor’s office.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n