Quito, Nov 18 (IANS): Ecuador's outgoing President Guillermo Lasso has handed over 15 Turkish-built Otokar armoured tactical vehicles to the armed forces to help fight organised crime and violence.
The armoured vehicles, each of which can accommodate nine soldiers, "have greater ballistic and mine protection", Xinhua news agency quoted Lasso as saying during the handover at Mariscal Sucre Air Base here on Friday.
"They also have technical characteristics for entering places that are difficult to access and highly dangerous in urban and rural settings," he added.
The vehicles delivered to the army were part of the process of strengthening the operational capabilities of the Armed Forces, said the outgoing loeader, who has declared a frontal attack on drug trafficking, which has recently plagued the South American country.
"Today I am pleased to say that I leave an army, an air force and a navy with better technical and operational capabilities," said Lasso, speaking just days before his term ends on November 22 and is to be succeeded by President-elect Daniel Noboa.
Lasso added that his government invested $430 million in the new military hardware.