Three Ecuador TV stations receive letter bombs, one explodes
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Loading... - Laura McLean
- 21 Mar 2023
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Letter bombs addressed to journalists were sent to three TV stations in violence-plagued Ecuador Monday, one of which exploded without causing casualties, officials and the outlets reported.
The prosecutor's office said it had opened an investigation into the crime of "terrorism," without stating why the three stations were specifically targeted, or by whom.
In the port city of Guayaquil, journalist Lenin Artieda of the Ecuavisa private TV station received an envelope containing a pen drive which exploded when he inserted it into a computer, his employer said.
Artieda sustained light injuries to one hand and his face, said police official Xavier Chango. No-one else was hurt.
Chango said the USB drive sent to Artieda could have been loaded with RDX, "a military-type explosive."
Elsewhere in Guayaquil in Ecuador's southwest, the prosecutor's office said a letter bomb was also sent to the offices of TC Television.
'New escalation'
The Teleamazonas chain later said it had also received a USB stick at its offices in Quito "with the same characteristics" as the one sent to Ecuavisa.
Chango had earlier said police were investigating two suspect envelopes sent to media outlets in the capital, but the fourth case has not been confirmed.
The Fundamedios NGO which advocates for press freedom, said the three "attacks used the same modus operandi."
Envelopes with USB sticks were addressed to Artieda as well as to Mauricio Ayora of TC Television and Milton Perez of Teleamazonas, it said in a statement. Read More…
