Ecuador has arrested a Syrian man identified as a terrorist threat by the United States for belonging to Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, authorities said Wednesday.
The arrest came as the government of Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa, an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, wages a crackdown on drug trafficking gangs, with Washington’s backing.
Ecuadoran Interior Minister John Reimberg said on X the man had been arrested in a joint operation between immigration authorities and the national police intelligence service.
“Deportation proceedings have been initiated” against the man, who was identified only as M.K. and entered Ecuador without proper documentation, said Reimberg.
He said the man was known to Ecuadoran authorities, having been arrested in the country in 2005 on charges of leading a drug trafficking network that allegedly moved millions of dollars on behalf of Hezbollah.
The suspect had been granted provisional release in 2012.
“There are international terrorist groups that intend to operate in the country, and President Daniel Noboa’s Government will not allow it,” Reimberg said.
xLebanon-based Hezbollah is currently fighting with Israel as part of the Middle East war unleashed by U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.
Noboa last year issued a decree blacklisting Hezbollah and Palestinian militant group Hamas as terrorist organizations.
The president claims the groups advise drug trafficking gangs operating in Ecuador.
Earlier this month, Ecuador launched operations against drug traffickers with support from the U.S. The two countries are part of a 17-country cartel-fighting alliance launched by Mr. Trump at a summit earlier this month.
U.S. and Ecuadoran forces recently conducted joint strikes inside Ecuador, and Ecuador’s military sank a “narco sub” near its northern border. Earlier this month, the FBI said it would open an office in Ecuador to investigate organized crime, money laundering, and corruption in conjunction with local police.
Noboa has spent the past two years targeting cocaine traffickers, but the rates of associated crimes including murders, disappearances and extortion have not fallen.
