The disappearance of four boys in Ecuador after they came into contact with the armed forces is posing a severe challenge to President Daniel Noboa’s “war on drugs”.

The four – all black, aged between 11 and 15, and residents of Las Malvinas, a poor area in the country’s largest city, Guayaquil – were returning from a football game near their homes on 8 December when 16 air force soldiers approached them.

The boys were allegedly freed 26 miles (42 km) away and have not been seen since. On Christmas Eve, four incinerated bodies were found in the same region, and experts are trying to determine if they are the boys’ remains.

The case, known as Los Cuatro de Guayaquil (the Guayaquil Four), has caused national uproar and sparked protests nationwide.