Man attempting to rob hotel in Ecuador gets busted by cops before pulling off bizarre move
An armed robber tried to keep his cool and was captured at a hotel in the north-central Ecuadorian province of Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas.
Surveillance footage of the July 7 robbery attempt showed one of the attackers speaking to the receptionist as he was about to draw his weapon.
The frightened employee slowly began to raise his hands when a police patrol suddenly stopped at the hotel’s driveway before his accomplice could warn him.
The wily suspect suddenly slid the gun through the slot in the window, in an attempt to give the impression that he was a guest.
A police officer didn’t fall for it, rushed in and ordered him to lie down on the ground.
A suspect (right) and his accomplice were caught on July 7 attempting to rob a hotel in Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, Ecuador.
The robber pretended to be a customer when police stormed the hotel
The officer then kicked the armed man to the ground, after which his partner walked in to support him.
Meanwhile, the other officers remained at the entrance to arrest the second suspect before escorting him inside.
Crime statistics released Monday by Ecuador’s attorney general’s office show that 32,699 reports of robberies were recorded across the country in the first six months of 2024.
A total of 98,484 robberies were reported last year.
A second suspect is escorted to a hotel lobby after police in Ecuador foil an attempted robbery
The data shows that there were 3,492 home invasions in the first six months of this year, compared to 10,910 in 2023.
Once peaceful Ecuador is currently facing an unprecedented wave of violence linked to drug trafficking.
Thanks to its ports on the Pacific Ocean, the country serves as a transit point for cocaine produced in Colombia and Peru and shipped to the United States and Europe.
The murder rate in Ecuador, a country of about 17 million people, rose from six per 100,000 inhabitants in 2018 to 47 per 100,000 last year.