Ecuador extradites drug lord 'Fito' to US

QUITO -- Ecuadorian authorities on Sunday extradited Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias "Fito," the country's main drug trafficker and leader of the organized crime group Los Choneros, to the United States, after his capture on June 25 in the western province of Manabi.

"Adolfo Macias, alias 'Fito', was taken out of La Roca Prison under the custody of the National Police and Armed Forces for the purposes of an extradition proceeding," Ecuador's national prison administration agency, SNAI, told local media.

His handover came a day before he was scheduled to appear in Brooklyn federal court in New York, where he was indicted in April on seven drug and weapons charges. If convicted, he could face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and up to life in prison, according to US authorities.

On July 11, "Fito" agreed to be extradited after Ecuador's National Court of Justice received a formal request from the United States.

According to the indictment, "Fito"-led Los Choneros, in alliance with Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, controlled key cocaine trafficking routes through Ecuador. He also operated a large-scale network for shipping and distributing tons of cocaine from South America through Central America and Mexico to the United States and elsewhere.

Last year, "Fito" escaped from a prison in Ecuador where he was serving a 34-year sentence for organized crime, drug trafficking and murder.