Forensic workers remove bodies found in sacks alongside a road near Babahoyo, Ecuador, June 3, 2026. Photo: AP/Cesar Munoz

Ecuador has gone from being one of South America's safest countries to a cocaine trafficking hub in a few short years, plagued by gangs with ties to Mexican and Colombian cartels.

Police said the bodies were found Tuesday inside a house in a rural area of the Canar province town of La Troncal.

Two of the bodies were tied up with wire, a police report said. There was also a burned-out car outside the residence.

The victims were between 21 and 30 years old, the report added, noting that the violence may be linked to a gang-related turf war.

Messages including "land of Wolves" and "the Wolves are active" had been painted on the walls of the house where the bodies were found.

Los Lobos — meaning "The Wolves" — is one of Ecuador's main drug trafficking and extortion gangs, with ties to international cartels. Last September, Los Lobos was designated a terrorist organisation by the United States.

Last month, eight bodies were found in plastic bags in a southwestern narco-trafficking hotspot, and Ecuadorian officials said a note found at the scene suggested the victims were targeted by Los Lobos, as part of its war with the rival Los Choneros gang.

A former mayor of a mining town — who authorities consider the main financial backer of Los Lobos — was arrested Tuesday in a neighboring province.

Around 70% of the drugs produced by Colombia and Peru, the world's largest and second-largest cocaine producers, respectively, are shipped through Ecuador.

Last year Ecuador recorded over 9,200 violent deaths — a record high — with gangs also engaging in drug trafficking, extortion, kidnapping and illegal gold mining.

The latest violence comes in the midst of a U.S.-backed military crackdown on the organized crime gangs in the country. Earlier this year, American commandos joined Ecuadorian troops in a joint mission aimed at dismantling a suspected criminal hub operated by an alleged narco-terrorist organization along the country's coast.

Criminal gang violence continues unabated in Ecuador following the recapture in June 2025 of the country's biggest drug lord, Adolfo Macías, who leads Los Choneros, after his escape from a maximum-security prison in 2024. In July 2025, the Ecuadoran government extradited Macías to the United States, where he faces multiple drug trafficking and firearms charges.