Three 15-year-old adolescents, victims of human trafficking, were rescued by police in Carabobo state, reported this Sunday the director of the Scientific, Criminal and Criminal Investigation Corps (Cicpc), Douglas Rico.
The minors had been “captured” by an organization dedicated to human trafficking called Los Orientales, which transported the victims “to foreign territory through irregular roads and under deceitful job offers.” Upon arrival at their destination, “they withheld their documentation and sexually exploited them,” the official explained on his Instagram account.
The police officers arrested two women, ages 22 and 43, who were with the adolescents. Also a 62-year-old man, who, together with one of the captured women, “was in charge of the transfer of the victims.”
The other detainee is the partner of the organization’s leader, who is in Peru, Rico said in the report. He also added that the police force is carrying out investigations to arrest four other people.
A report by the NGO Mulier Venezuela released last March revealed that a total of 1,390 Venezuelans, including 284 girls and adolescents, were rescued from human trafficking networks in 2022, when these cases detected in several countries increased.
The organization stressed that the number of minors rescued doubled in 2022, which shows “the vulnerability” of girls and adolescents to these criminal groups. This especially in border areas of Latin America, crowded in recent years due to the massive migration of Venezuelans.
All these events left a balance of 502 detainees, including two police officers, according to Mulier Venezuela.