Ecuador football scandal: the league scorer was arrested for joining a criminal gang of hit men

In the last few hours, a news story had an impact on football in Ecuador. The Barcelona de Guayaquil flier, Gabriel Cortéz, was arrested as part of a police operation against a criminal gang in Esmeraldas, a coastal province bordering Colombia, which included a total of 18 people.

Although his name was not mentioned, Cortez's arrest was confirmed by Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo, during a press conference where he assured that the 26-year-old footballer “ordered and received information about the people the hit men” had killed.

It should be noted that Cortéz, also known as El Loco, is one of the figures and top scorer in the current first division football tournament in Ecuador: he scored seven goals in the first nine games of the competition that has the Barcelonistas as leader with 19 points, as he won six matches, called one and fell in two presentations. Just 48 hours ago, last Wednesday, the Guayaquil team fell 1-0 to Gualaceo, one of the most modest teams in the Ecuadorian league. The midfielder, who plays for number 13, played the entire match.

Once Cortéz's name was leaked as one of those involved in the arrest of the criminal gang, Barcelona issued a statement on its various platforms in which it dismissed any responsibility or complicity in the alleged crimes committed by the footballer.

“Barcelona Sporting Club, in view of the public events that have occurred with one of its players, will respect the proceedings and investigations carried out by the judicial bodies. At the same time, it emphasizes that the activities carried out in the private sphere by its players, employees and managers are alien to the institution and therefore there is no responsibility whatsoever for the Club,” said the first part of the report.

“We will continue to monitor the process and wait for the resolutions taken by the Judicial Function, in order to take the appropriate measures at the appropriate time,” he concluded in his clarification on what happened with the player who also visited the Botafogo, Brazilian football, and Lobos BUAP shirts from Mexico.

In addition to the footballer, among the 18 detainees are three policemen on active duty. During the police operation, raids were carried out on 29 buildings in which three vehicles, 14 mobile phones, three surveillance cameras and a kilo of drugs were seized.

The operation, called “Operation Great Impact 10″, was executed by the Ecuadorian National Police together with the Attorney General's Office against the criminal gang called “Los Tiguerones”. Authorities link the organization to the Oliver Sinisterra Front, a dissident group of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) operating near the Ecuadorian border and credited with kidnapping and killing three Ecuadorian journalists in 2018.

According to the commander general of the Ecuadorian Police, the arrests were carried out after an investigation that lasted four months where information was collected to request the Justice for arrest warrants. Ecuadorian authorities charge “Los Tiguerones” with the crimes of drug trafficking, terrorism, murder, murder, murder, extortion, illicit trafficking in arms and explosive ammunition.

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