Interpol carries out operation against human trafficking in Latin America and the Caribbean

Agents controlled transit points, such as airports, bus stations and border posts.

According to a preliminary report, 268 suspects were arrested for involvement in illegal migrant trafficking, human trafficking or related crimes, such as document forgery and sexual crimes.

A total of 9.015 irregular migrants were identified. Additionally, 128 women and two men who were victims of human trafficking were rescued.

Most trafficking victims came from Colombia and Venezuela. However, other migrants, coming from all over the world, were heading to North America and were intercepted in Central America.

This was the case of Mexico, specifically, with 2.400 migrants from America (Venezuela, Cuba), Africa (Angola, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Ethiopia) and Asia (Bangladesh and Nepal).

Criminal industry

In Nicaragua, police detected more than 2.000 migrants who wanted to travel to the United States or Canada, coming from Asia, Africa, Haiti and Ecuador.

In Honduras, a 30-year-old woman, suspected of involvement in the exploitation of three minors, was detained.

Authorities in El Salvador arrested several women who allegedly sexually exploited their own children, including a girl with disabilities.

Operations were also carried out in Guatemala, Bolivia, Peru, Paraguay and Brazil.

“Human trafficking and migrant smuggling are criminal industries that generate billions of euros, finance the most dangerous organized crime groups in the world and violate the human rights of their victims”, says Interpol Secretary General, Jürgen Stock, mentioned in the statement.

“The stories we hear about the exploitation of migrants around the world, in operations like Turquoise IV, are harrowing,” adds Stock.

The operation was financed by Canada's Ministry of World Affairs.

(AFP)

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