HomeNewsBriefEcuador Arrest Highlights Lax Immigration Policy, Enforcement
BRIEF

Ecuador Arrest Highlights Lax Immigration Policy, Enforcement

COCAINE EUROPE / 19 NOV 2013 BY MARGUERITE CAWLEY EN

Ecuador has arrested an alleged Italian mafia member who held a legitimate work visa in the country but was wanted on criminal charges in Italy, highlighting how the country's lax entry requirements are attracting foreign organized crime.

Ecuadorean police and agents from international police body Interpol arrested Valentino Alampi in the port city of Guayaquil on November 14, reported Hoy. Alampi is allegedly the brother and business partner of the leader of criminal organization Cosca Alampi, based in the Calabria region of southern Italy. He was wanted by Interpol for evading a four and a half year prison sentence in Italy for mafia ties, and a warrant for his extradition was issued in Ecuador in May.

At the time of his arrest, Alampi held an Ecuadorean work visa as executive director of the company Jampoli S.A., which is under investigation for money laundering, reported El Comercio. He has been transferred to Quito to await extradition to Italy.

InSight Crime Analysis

Ecuador has among the most lax immigration requirements in the world, allowing citizens of almost any country in the world to enter for 90 days without a visa -- while this case suggests getting hold of one is not much of a challenge either. This ease of entry has made it an attractive destination for foreign criminals, especially combined with its dollar currency and its location between two of the world's major cocaine producing nations. Various Colombian groups have set up shop in the country, including the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the Rastrojos, and most recently, the Urabeños. Chinese triads have taken advantage of the lack of visa regulations to increase human trafficking through the country, and Italian, Ukranian and Albanian groups have also been identified as working in Ecuador by the US Drug Enforcement Administration: a "United Nations" of drug traffickers, Andean director Jay Bergman told Reuters in 2011.

The Cosca Alampi, which is involved in extortion and controls city waste contracts in Calabria, is linked to the famous 'Ndrangheta mafia that operates in the region, according to Prensa Latina. The 'Ndrangheta, which is estimated to control 80 percent of European cocaine distribution, is known to be present in Colombia, where an Italian cocaine broker with links going back to the Medellin Cartel was arrested in July, and four important Italian drug traffickers were arrested this spring. It has also worked with Mexico's Zetas

SEE ALSO: Coverage of European Organized Crime

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

BOLIVIA / 3 APR 2023

Wastewater analysis of major European cities shows cocaine consumption continues to rise in parallel with South America's booming production.

COCAINE / 26 JAN 2023

Corrupt Navy troops in Ecuador can be highly useful for drug traffickers, either to protect cocaine shipments or to simply…

AUC / 23 NOV 2022

A close relationship between a Colombian warlord and an Italian restaurateur would lead to Europe being flooded with cocaine by…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…