HOODED gunmen have hijacked a live television broadcast in Ecuador and threatened staff members.
Live television footage broadcast from Ecuador’s TC station in Guayaquil showed hooded gunmen storming the set, waving guns and threatening people.
EPAHooded gunmen have stormed a live television broadcast in Ecuador[/caption]
Shots could be heard as some of the gunmen told staff members to lie on the ground.
One gunman was reportedly heard saying: “We are on the air so that they know we do not play with the mafia”.
Another hooded man has been alleged to have left a stick of dynamite in the television station’s reception area.
National police units in both Quito and Guayaquil have been deployed to the scene.
Armed men have also entered the University of Guayaquil, attempting to kidnap students, and Teodoro Maldonado hospital, where they have been attempting to kidnap doctors.
Shots have been heard in both locations, and an evacuation order has been issued at the Carondelet presidential complex in Quito.
All of which follows Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declaring a state of emergency after a notorious drug kingpin escaped from a maximum security jail on Sunday.
Several police officers were kidnapped immediately after the announcement, and there have been a series of explosions across the country.
Although, the security situation has now deteriorated to the point where he has declared the existence of an internal armed conflict in Ecuador.
Noboa has also issued a statement providing a decree for the direct intervention of the Armed Forces.
Adolfo Macias, the leader of the Los Choneros gang, had been serving a 34-year sentence for drug trafficking and murder.
Los Choneros is one of the Ecuadorian gangs that the authorities have deemed responsible for the spike in violence over the last year.
It has been claimed that Los Choneros has links with Mexico’s infamous Sinaloa cartel.
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