The Peruvian Interior Ministry said Tuesday that police special forces are being deployed to the border with neighboring Ecuador after Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared a state of internal armed conflict in the country and ordered Ecuador s army to "neutralize" criminal groups operating in the country.
The unrest came as authorities raided prisons in search of weapons and in an effort to disperse gang members to different facilities. During Sunday s search of the Guayaquil prison, law enforcement officials failed to find the leader of the Los Choneros gang, Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar.