Jackson Rodriguez, an Ecuadorian footballer, has come under serious criticism.
The footballer is under fire for hiding under his bed and listening in horror as masked intruders kidnapped his wife and five-year-old son.
Jackson Rodriguez, who plays in Ecuador, is now pleading for the safe return of his family after men ransacked his property at 3am on Wednesday morning, April 23.
It was gathered that the gang came to capture the Emelec star amid a wider reign of chaos and violence from organised crime groups in the South American nation.
Police confirmed the men, who broke down Rodriguez’s front door, demanded to know if the defender was at the property before taking off with his loved ones.
Rodriguez says he peeped out of the window and saw them in an ominous ‘gray-colored double-cab pickup truck’.
It comes less than two weeks after Ecuador declared a state of emergency in multiple provinces, including the capital Quito, on the eve of the run-off presidential election.
Rodriguez’s city of Guayaquil, where he lives in the Mucho Lote 2 neighbourhood, has been badly hit by violence.
Just last month, 22 people were killed in a bitter gun battle in Guayaquil’s northern neighbourhood of Nueva Prosperina as members of the infamous Los Tiguerones syndicate carried out a hit on a rival group.
Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, who recently won re-election, has vowed to crack down on the criminal gangs tearing the nation apart.
