The province of Esmeraldas, which President Guillermo Lasso said has “the highest levels of insecurity in the country,” has been under a state of emergency since early March due to a spike in drug trafficking-related violence.

Two of the three decapitated heads discovered were identified by their mother, who told authorities one of them was a teenager, said police general Fausto Buenano.

“It is known that these people who were decapitated belong to an (organised crime group) here in Esmeraldas,” he said.

“We presume that (gang members) are eliminating each other, perhaps for power, for more distribution,” Buenano added.

Since March 3, freedom of movement in Esmeraldas has been restricted from 9pm to 5am.

It is the second time in less than six months that a state of emergency has been declared in the province.

In November, Lasso imposed a state of emergency and a night-time curfew following a spate of attacks in revenge for the transfer of some prisoners.

Lasso has declared war on drug trafficking gangs, who control the drug trade from prisons engulfed by extreme violence and riots breaking out between rival gangs.

Ecuador, located between Colombia and Peru, has seen a sharp rise in drug trafficking and murder in the past year.

The murder rate jumped from 14 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2021 to 25 the following year, while drug seizures, mostly cocaine destined for European ports, went from 120 tonnes to over 200 tonnes in the same period.

The government says the escalating violence is “related to illicit drug trafficking as well as extortion mechanisms.”