Rival Gang Steals Body of Notorious Ecuadorian Gangster from Colombian Cemetery for Alleged Satanic Ritual

The body of the former leader of a notorious Ecuadorian gang has been stolen from a cemetery in Colombia, with suspicions that it was taken for a 'satanic ritual.'

Junior Roldán, a senior member of the Los Choneros prison gang in Ecuador who was shot dead in May, had been laid to rest in a crypt. On the night of Tuesday, September 12, the crypt was broken into at a gravesite in Envigado, a city in the department of Antioquia, Colombia.

Upon arriving at the cemetery on Wednesday morning, September 13, workers discovered one of the entrance doors had been left open. A priest who joined them for an inspection noted that the cement cover of the crypt had been destroyed.

Envigado police suggested that Roldán's body might have been taken by rivals from Los Choneros or that it was exhumed for a satanic ritual.

Roldán had been murdered in the Antioquia municipality of Fredonia on May 6. Since no one claimed his body, authorities approved his burial in the cemetery.

Roldán co-founded Los Choneros, one of Ecuador's most powerful gangs, with connections to Colombian and Mexican drug cartels, controlling trafficking routes in Mexico and the United States. The gang's influence within the Ecuadorian prison system initially grew but later waned as rival gang Lobos formed alliances with other criminal groups.

Roldán had a history of various crimes, including two murders. In 2022, he applied for house arrest due to his health issues, which included arterial hypertension, diabetes, grade 3 hepatic steatosis, and liver cirrhosis. A judge granted his release, citing the imminent risk to his life and health.

However, Roldán's freedom was short-lived. After his release on December 15, 2022, he was arrested hours later when police found guns in the vehicle he was traveling in. He was released again on February 14, 2023, after a judge granted his application for habeas corpus, but required him to wear an ankle monitor.

President Guillermo Lasso criticized the court's decision to free Roldán and declared a war on drug trafficking, organized crime, and anti-patriotic mafias that disrupt the country's peace.

On March 23, an Ecuadorian judge declared Roldán a fugitive after he removed his tracking device and went missing. He had narrowly survived a shootout on March 16, in which five people were killed and six wounded. Colombian media reported that Roldán had hired a bodyguard who later betrayed and killed him.