Washington DC [US], July 3: The US State Department has designated the Ecuadorean gang Chone Killers as a foreign "terrorist organisation", imposing sanctions on a crime group that Washington has accused of carrying out attacks on civilians and public officials.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the gang has also been classified as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist".
"Chone Killers has committed numerous attacks targeting civilians, law enforcement officers and government officials, including high-profile assassinations of public officials," Rubio said in a statement announcing the designations.
The move against the Ecuadorian street gang part of a broader campaign by US President Donald Trump's administration on organised crime and drug trafficking in Latin America. The Trump administration has designated several other Latin American gangs and drug cartels as "terrorist" organisations, including Venezuela's Tren de Aragua and the Mexican Sinaloa cartel.
"The Trump administration, in partnership with Ecuador and President Daniel Noboa, will continue to protect our hemisphere by keeping illicit drugs off our streets and disrupting the revenue streams funding violent narcoterrorists," Rubio said.
Source: Qatar Tribune