Safety officers have freed TV station workers that had been held at gunpoint by prison gangs
The hostage disaster at a TV station in Ecuador’s largest metropolis, Guayaquil, has ended with all assailants detained and captives rescued, nationwide police chief Cesar Augusto Zapata Correa introduced on Tuesday night.
Masked gunmen invaded the headquarters of TC Tv earlier that day, interrupting a reside broadcast and taking journalists and different workers captive. The assault came about amid the nationwide emergency declared by President Daniel Noboa in response to jail riots and assaults by gang members that swept the nation on Tuesday.
Closely armed safety forces rapidly arrived on the scene and entered the TV station constructing, detaining 13 assailants and recovering “weapons, explosives and different proof,” Zapata Correa stated. He added that each one hostages had been freed. He didn’t report any casualties.
El operativo policial en @tctelevision dejó 13 aprehendidos, armas, explosivos y otros indicios. Se liberaron a los rehenes y se puso a buen recaudo a los trabajadores. Los causantes serán puestos ante la justicia para que sean sancionados por los actos terroristas. pic.twitter.com/9KEXWvDfzZ
— GraD. César Augusto Zapata Correa (@CmdtPoliciaEc) January 9, 2024
“The perpetrators might be dropped at justice as a way to be punished for his or her terrorist acts,” the police chief wrote on X (previously Twitter), vowing that legislation enforcement “won’t enable violent actions to threaten order and peace.”
A video posted to social media reveals police escorting detainees out of the constructing.
The freed workers had been filmed hugging their family members and praying exterior the TV headquarters.
At the least eight folks had been killed and two had been injured in Guayaquil on Tuesday, Mayor Aquiles Alvarez stated at a press convention. President Noboa earlier approved the navy to neutralize prison gangs he described as “terrorist organizations and belligerent non-state actors.”
