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A British man was lynched and burned alive in Ecuador after an unstoppable mob overpowered police officers and dragged him to his death.
The Playas del Cuyabeno police claimed that the furious horde ‘exceeded the capacity of seven officers’ who were tasked with the responsibility of protecting the visitor who was believed to have moved from the UK and was killed in a revenge attack on Sunday.
The unnamed man, who has not been officially identified, was being held in a police station in the Sucumbios province of Ecuador after being accused of shooting dead a local guide, named locally as Rodrigo Chavez.
In horrifying scenes on April 20, more than 100 enraged villagers stormed the small-town police station on Sunday and dragged the man out into the street, setting him on fire in broad daylight.
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The police said: ‘There had been problems between the two men that died. The man we believe to be British had shot a local man, causing his death.
‘We know that he was working and teaching English and was making reservations for tourists visiting the area,’ a police chief added.
‘But we don’t have any more information right now and that is the focus of ongoing investigations, which are seeking to determine his full name as well.’
Local police confirmed he was arrested around 6am on Sunday morning following the murder accusations, as police attempted to provide him security and protection.
A picture of the British man when he was in police custody. His identity has been obscured pending formal identification
The unnamed man, who has not been officially identified, was being held in a police station in the Sucumbios province of Ecuador after being accused of shooting dead a local guide, named locally as Rodrigo Chavez (pictured: crowds gathered at what is thought to be the scene of the shooting)
But just hours later, the situation spiralled into chaos. With tensions boiling over, villagers gathered outside the police station before storming the building, dragging the suspect outside and setting him ablaze – just metres from the front door.
Ecuadorian newspaper Extra reported officers who arrested him decided not to intervene when the baying mob forced their way into the police station ahead of his transfer out of the area.
They stood back, the newspaper said, in order to avoid being attacked themselves and to avoid additional damage to state property.
It said police reinforcements had taken time to reach the area because of its remoteness and difficult access.
‘We are still trying to establish the specific identity of the citizen we believe is a British national,’ the police explained.
‘We’re presuming he’s English, although we don’t have documents that prove his nationality status. We’re trying to confirm all the information including his migration status.
‘We don’t have any proven information relating to how long he had been in this community.’
The Foreign Office has said it is urgently working with local authorities to confirm the details and establish the man’s identity.
Local news outlets described the brutal killing as a ‘shocking act of apparent community justice’, and have claimed the act will likely be investigated as homicide or murder under Ecuador’s penal code.
The killing has shocked the region, which was placed under a state of emergency last year following a wave of violence, with 159 murders recorded – a staggering 70 per cent spike compared to the previous year.
The victim of the shooting is taken from the scene
Playas del Cuyabeno, despite its isolation, has seen an influx of international tourists and volunteers due to its proximity to one of Ecuador’s most treasured conservation areas.
The Foreign Office warns against ‘all but essential travel’ to scenic areas around the Ecuador-Colombia border like the Sucumbios province ‘due to the presence of organised crime linked to the production and trafficking of drugs’.
Latin America has for decades been synonymous with the drug trade thanks to ruthless cartels and criminal gangs whose power and brutality cannot by tamed by the government or the armed forces.
Some countries like Ecuador had managed to remain relatively peaceful for decades, despite bordering the notorious cocaine hotspots of Colombia and Peru.
But the coastal nation has seen murder rates soar in recent years as drug lords and criminal masterminds dug their hooks into fresh territory and exploited its ports for maximum profit.
The gruesome lynching came at the end of a Kichwa community event, according to local media.
The Kichwa, Ecuador’s largest indigenous group in the Amazon, number around 55,000 people and are protected under Article 171 of the national constitution, which grants them jurisdiction within their territories based on ancestral customs – as long as those customs do not violate national or international human rights law.