Story By: Angjela Trajkovska, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
Video Credit: CEN/@dpin1980
This is the moment a police officer and an alleged smuggler square up for a fight while other cops stand by and watch when the man was stopped suspected of smuggled clothes.
The incident took placed in the province of Carchi in northern Ecuador, during a routine police patrol check after a suspected a lorry without licence plates or smuggling clothes.
Ecuador has substantial taxes on imports from neighbouring countries and as a result there is a flourishing business in the smuggling of new clothes as well as other items like electronic devices and alcohol.
The suspected smuggler however was not happy at being stopped, and allegedly approached the guards with a baseball bat, insulting and then attacking them while being helped by other civilians who were suspected of also being in the smuggling business and wanted to help their colleague.
The dark-haired man who is wearing a khaki coloured T-shirt then reportedly managed to steal the keys to the officer’s car, prompting the fight with one of the cops who wanted to regain the case.
The video that spread online shows the customs guard and the suspected smuggler squaring up and throwing punches at each other, with the officer landing several until second smuggler waves in wielding a stick.
The alleged smuggler then uses the confusion to regain his bat while the guards struggle to get it back from him which they eventually succeed in doing.
The institution resulted in charges being made against the suspected smuggler as well as those that assisted him for assaulting police officers carrying out their duty.
Prosecutors confirmed they were looking into the case although it was not currently clear whether any arrests have been made nor if anyone suffered injuries.
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