BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – The wife and children of fugitive Ecuadorean drug trafficker Jose Adolfo Macias were detained in Argentina on Thursday evening and returned to Ecuador early Friday, authorities said.
Argentine Security Minister Patricia Bullrich told a press conference on Friday that authorities detained eight people – including some non-relative associates of Macias – who arrived in Argentina on Jan. 5 and moved into a home in the province of Cordoba that they had purchased in November.
Macias, whose alias is “Fito,” disappeared on Jan. 7 from the Ecuadorean prison where he was serving a 34-year sentence for various crimes including drug trafficking and murder.
“Our hypothesis is that Fito’s plan was to buy the house, move the family out and then escape from prison,” said Bullrich, who said that the family had entered Argentina in the past.
The family was back in Ecuador as of Friday, Bullrich said, adding that she had no information or indication that Fito himself was in Argentina.
(Reporting by Lucila Sigal; Editing by David Gregorio)
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