The four year manhunt for America's most wanted kingpin, Wilmer Chavarria, has ended as the leader of the violent Los Lobos drug cartel was arrested in Spain.
Chavarria, known by the alias “Pipo” staged his own death and did plastic surgeries to mislead the police.
He was apprehended at the Malaga airport upon arriving from Morocco. The arrest was done in a collaborative effort between Spanish and Ecuadorian police, marking the downfall of the kingpin that officials blame for hundreds of deaths and a significant portion of drug-related violence ravaging Ecuador.
On his arrest, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa wrote on his X (formerly Twitter) account, “Today we captured “Pipo” Chavarría, the region's most wanted criminal and top leader of Los Lobos. This criminal faked his death, changed his identity, and hid in Europe while ordering murders in Ecuador, controlling illegal mining operations, and running drug trafficking routes alongside the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.”
He also acknowledged the collaborative works of police officials writing, “I acknowledge and appreciate the joint work of the Ecuadorian and Spanish National Police. To combat transnational crime, international cooperation is essential.”
Officials unveiled that in 2021, his family confirmed his death due to a Covid-related heart attack. Following this fake information, Chavarria fled Ecuador with forged documents.
To further solidify his fake death, he underwent seven surgeries to change his physical appearance and adopted a new identity, Danilo Feranandez.
With his new identity, he continued coordinating international drug shipments, ordered assassinations, and controlled illegal mining operations while living a lavish lifestyle in luxury hotels across Europe and the Middle East.
Ecuador’s Interior Minister John Reimberg hailed the arrest as a “historic day,” stating Chavarria is “responsible for at least 400 deaths.”
Recently, the U.S. has labelled Los Lobos as a terrorist organization underscoring the gang’s transnational threat.
The capture represents a major victory for President Nobos' ongoing war against the "narco-terrorists" destabilising his nation.