Los Lobos gang leader ‘Pipo’ Chavarría arrested in Malaga after faking death

Ecuadorian gang leader Wilmer “Pipo” Chavarría, the alleged head of the Los Lobos criminal organisation, has been captured in Malaga in a joint operation involving Spanish and Ecuadorian police. Ecuador’s President, Daniel Noboa, confirmed that Chavarría had faked his death and continued running operations from Europe. Spanish National Police announced the arrest on X, stating that Chavarría – wanted in Ecuador for multiple violent crimes – had been living under a false identity. Ecuador’s Interior Minister John Reimberg called it a “historic day” for the country. Gang boss allegedly faked death while running operations from Europe President Noboa told the BBC that Chavarría had changed his identity, hidden in Europe and continued directing illegal activities in Ecuador, including illegal gold mining, targeted killings, and managing drug-trafficking routes. Chavarría’s family had claimed in 2021 that he died of a heart attack linked to Covid-19. Both the US and Ecuador classify Los Lobos as a terrorist organisation. The US Treasury, in a June 2024 sanctions notice, described the gang as a group with “thousands of members” responsible for a significant rise in Ecuador’s violence. Los Lobos is estimated to have around 8,000 members, making it one of Ecuador’s largest and most influential gangs. Many of its members are in prison, and the group has been implicated in some of the country’s deadliest prison riots. Authorities believe the gang maintains ties with Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel, a major international trafficking network. Ecuador’s security crisis has intensified over the past five years as the country became a central transit hub for cocaine travelling from Peru and Colombia to Europe and the US. The timing of Chavarría’s capture coincides with Ecuador’s referendum on whether to allow foreign military bases back into the country. Ecuador previously hosted a US base until 2009, when then-president Rafael Correa banned them constitutionally. View all news from Spain.