Ecuador's former president Abdalá Bucaram is arrested in bed over over 'murder of prison inmate jailed for selling thousands of Covid-19 tests to his son'

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Former Ecuador president Abdalá Bucaram was arrested at his home as part of an organized crime probe stemming from the murder of an Israeli man who was jailed for selling COVID-19 medical supplies to the former leader's son.

Shy Dahan, one of two men arrested for allegedly selling $300,000 worth of supplies to Bucaram's son and former politician, Jacobo Bucaram, whose goal was to move them at exorbitantly high prices to hospitals in Guayaquil, was found dead Saturday.

On Wednesday, police officers from the Rescue and Intervention Unit broke down the entrance door to the former president's home in Guayaquil and found him sitting on his bed as the shocking scene unraveled on live television.  

The 68-year-old spent several hours at the police headquarter and had to be rushed to a hospital after he fainted due to chest pains. He was discharged in the afternoon and placed under house arrest. 

Law enforcement agents also arrested two Metropolitan Transit Agency cops, identified as Leandro Berrones and Samuel Solis, on Wednesday. 

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Ecuador's former President Abdalá Bucaram (left, in 2019) was arrested for his alleged involvement in arranging the death of Shy Dahan (right) 

Members of the Rescue and Intervention Unit stormed the home of Ecuador's former president Abdalá Bucaram on Wednesday in Guayaquil and arrested the 68-year-old. The arrest is part of a probe surrounding Saturday's murder of Shy Dahan, an Israeli man who was jailed in June for selling COVID-19 medical supplies to the ex-leader's son

A police agent aims his weapon at former Ecuador president Abdalá Bucaram during Wednesday morning's raid at his house in Guayaquil

Israel natives Dahan, who was in his late 30s, and Oren Sheinman were arrested June 2 for allegedly selling $300,000 worth of supplies to the former Ecuadorian president's son and former politician, Jacobo Bucaram, whose goal was to move them at exorbitantly high prices to hospitals in Guayaquil. 

Dahan and Sheinman were found with $100,000 cash and fake documents trying to pass themselves off as U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents.

Dahan was found dead following an attack at Litoral Penitentiary in Guayaquil on Saturday. Sheinman was badly injured in the assault in which both men were beaten with hammers and knives, according to Israel's Channel 12.

Héctor Gabriel Vanegas, a lawyer for Sheinman, shared on Twitter a statement offered by Dahan in which he claimed that 'at the moment I have received death threats and ... we are in danger, we have many things to defend ourselves [from].' 

Ecuadorian cops rush inside the home of Ecuador's ex-president Abdalá Bucaram

Abdalá Bucaram (right) was with his wife María Rosa Pulley (left) when the police barged inside him home and apprehended him Wednesday in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Bucaram wad the president of Ecuador from August 10, 1996, to February 6, 1997

The bizarre recent events took a dark turn over the last week, when a digital news outlet published audio of a reported conversation between former President Bucaram and Dahan.

In the audio, a man identified as Dahan asks by phone, 'I have your word that no one is going to try and kill me, none of that?'

The response, purportedly from Bucaram: 'We've talked about one's word. I maintain my word that in court, I'll get you out.'

Vanegas said Sheinman has information about organized crime networks in Ecuador and has been subject to 'constant threats' since his detention.

The former chief of state held a press conference Tuesday and acknowledged the phone call with Dahan but denied having committed any crime

'The Bucaram family hasn't been responsible for a single death in this country,' he said. 

Bucaram, who was known for his wild antics during his short-live presidency from August 10, 1996, to February 6, 1997.

Bucaram has not been charged, but Interior Minister María Paula Romo told an Ecuadorian radio station that a judge ordered his detention while investigators examine 'the degree of participation - if there was or not' in crimes related to an inmate's death Saturday at the Litoral Penitentiary in Guayaquil.

Ecuador former President Abdalá Bucaram has not been charged with Saturday's murder of Shy Dahan, an Israeli man who was arrested in June for selling COVID-19 medical supplies to the ex-leader's son

Oren Sheiman is one of two Israeli men who moved around Ecuador with bogus Drug Enforcement Agency badges

Jacobo Bucaram reportedly purchased the COVID-19 medical supplies from two Israeli men, including one murdered at a Guayaquil, Ecuador, prison Saturday, and planned to sell them at higher prices to health facilities in the country

'The investigation right now is confidential,' Romo added, declining to go into more detail.

The chief prosecutor's office confirmed Bucaram had been detained, but revealed little about the investigation, other than to say it is part of an organized crime probe that also involves one of the ex-president's sons and three transit employees.

Bucaram - who was kicked out of office by Congress six months after his 1996 election - has been caught up in a COVID-19 crime probe since June, when authorities raided his home and found an unlicensed gun, several pre-Columbian art sculptures, as well as 5,000 face masks and 2,000 coronavirus antibody rapid test kits.

Investigators said at the time that the raid was part of an ongoing probe into suspected embezzlement at a large public hospital.

In late July, his three adult sons were ordered detained as a preliminary measure as the investigation advances, though they have not been located. Bucaram, meanwhile, has been charged with illegal possession of a firearm and for harboring the antiquities, which are considered state-owned cultural patrimony.

Oren Sheinman survived an attack in which his accomplice Shy Dahan was killed inside a Ecuadorian prison Saturday

Bucaram rose to power with the votes of Ecuador's poor and indigenous groups and became known as 'El Loco Que Ama' or 'The Crazy Man Who Loves' for his many bizarre acts. He once shaved his Charlie Chaplin-like mustache on a telethon to earn money for poor children and liked to compare himself to great world leaders who had been assassinated.

He was ousted by Congress shortly into his presidency for 'mental incapacity' and accused of corruption and nepotism.