Five decapitated heads were discovered on a beach in Puerto López, Ecuador, as a stark warning to gangs threatening local fishermen. The grim find appeared on Sunday on the Pacific coast town's beachfront, an area suffering from severe gang violence. Next to the heads, a sign warned that those stealing from or extorting fishermen would face the same fate. Police identified the heads as five men aged 20 to 34 who had been reported missing days earlier. One victim had a criminal record for gun possession. Their bodies remain missing. Puerto López and other Pacific towns are hot spots for gangs trafficking cocaine from Ecuador to the US and Europe. Ecuador—bordered by Colombia and Peru, the world's biggest cocaine producers—has become a key drug route. Local gangs work with Mexican and Colombian cartels. They also demand "protection money" from businesses and punish those who refuse. 2025 marked the deadliest year on record in Ecuador, with 9,176 homicides reported, according to the interior ministry. Gang violence recently escalated: on December 28, gunmen killed six people including a two-year-old and injured three on the Puerto López beachfront. This mass shooting, along with another the day before killing three, stemmed from a clash between factions of the Los Choneros gang. Los Choneros, named a Foreign Terrorist Organisation by the US State Department in September, is a leading force behind deadly violence in Ecuador. Its leader, known as Fito, was extradited to the US in July last year.