Horrifying moment Ecuadorian beauty queen, 23, is gunned down by assassins in a restaurant months after she was 'discussed by drug traffickers in secret chat'

This is the horrifying moment an Ecuadorian beauty queen was gunned down by assassins in a restaurant just months after being 'discussed by drug traffickers in a secret chat'. 

Shocking CCTV footage shows two gunmen bursting into the eatery in Quevedo, Ecuador, on Sunday, as Landy Párraga Goyburo, 23, and another man stood at a table.

As the pair stand casually chatting, the woman can be seen glancing towards the door window as her assailant sneaks into to restaurant without her noticing.

The former Miss Ecuador contestant then turns to face the man she had been speaking to before the gunmen begin charging towards them with their weapons in hand.

The first masked attacker quickly opens fire, shooting towards both Párraga and the man, before firing another round of bullets at the woman as she lays on the ground.

Landy Párraga Goyburo was shot dead in a restaurant on Sunday 

Horror CCTV footage captured the moment Párraga, 23, was chatting to a man in an eatery moments before her attackers enter

Masked assailants clad in black storm into the restaurant and open fire before fleeing, leaving Párraga dead on the ground in a pool of blood

Párraga, a former Miss Ecuador contestant, was gunned down after she was cryptically discussed by a drug trafficker before his murder in prison

The second attacker stays on guard by the restaurant door.

Both armed assailants then flee the scene, dashing out of the door and onto the street after carrying out their murder in broad daylight.

The former model can be seen lying motionless on the floor in a pool of her own blood, with a bullet mark visible on her right thigh.

The police are currently investigating the incident, working to discover the motive and identify the assailants responsible.

Párraga was a former Miss Ecuador contestant, having represented Los Ríos Province in 2022.

She had more than a million followers across her social media accounts.

According to El Comercio, at just 23-years-old, Párraga was the owner of a households goods importer, and ran her own sportswear line.

On her social networks she shared the luxurious life she led, between trips around the world and meals in luxurious places.

But there was a darker truth behind the glam lifestyle portrayed on social media. 

In December 2023, her name was mentioned in a chat made public by the Attorney General's Office as part of a major organised crime case it is investigating.

One of the 52 people being prosecuted in the case is Helive Angulo, nicknamed 'Estimado'.

In the chat, Angulo told the drug trafficker Leandro Norero, whose assets he managed, that the police had asked him about Párraga.

Norero cryptically wrote: 'If my wife comes across anything about her, I'm screwed.

'My friend, her name cannot come out anywhere. Otherwise, my world will come crashing down.'

According to El Comercio, at just 23-years-old, Párraga was the owner of a households goods importer, and ran her own sportswear line

In December 2023, Párraga's  name was mentioned in a chat made public by the Attorney General's Office as part of a major organised crime case it is investigating

Norero was killed in prison in 2022, six months after his incarceration.

Money transfers made to Párraga's bank account are under investigation by the Attorney General's Office.

The office never prosecuted Párraga and she had never publicly commented on the case.

The shocking daylight killing comes as the once peaceful Ecuador's murder rate has spiked more than 250 per cent since 2020.

In recent years the murder rate has soared to record levels as Mexican drug cartels take over the territory.

Beheadings, port massacres, public hangings and torture are becoming increasingly more popular as the South American country suffers a wave of bloodshed.

A report from last year by respected NGO Crisis Group found that the livelihoods of many ordinary families in poor areas of Ecuador now depend on the drug business, with men selling cocaine while women pack it into plastic bags.

One of the Crisis Group authors, expert Glaeldys Gonzalez Calanche, told MailOnline that the narcos' influence is spreading across the country: 'These groups are slowly gaining more ground or territorial control outside of these areas that they currently run.'