To date, Operation Liberterra II has made it possible to arrest more than 2,500 people and rescue more than 3,000 potential victims around the world. It took place in 116 countries and territories between September 29 and October 4.
“Liberterra II” made it possible to “rescue 3,222 potential victims”, including minors forced to work on farms in Argentina, migrants in nightclubs in Macedonia, beggars in Iraq, domestic workers in the Middle East… “and to identify 17,793 irregular migrants,” said the international criminal police organization headquartered in Lyon in a press release.
A total of 2,517 arrests were made during the week, of which 850 specifically concerned human or migrant smuggling, Interpol added, specifying that these are preliminary results.
“Human trafficking and migrant smuggling are increasingly linked to other forms of crime, often using the same criminal networks and routes,” the organization stressed, an overlap that “amplifies profits and power of organized criminal groups.
Online scams
The operation thus made it possible to discover online scam centers exploiting trafficking victims. In the Philippines, police raided a warehouse where more than 250 people, most of them Chinese, were engaged in emotional scams on an industrial scale.
“In many cases, victims are lured by false promises of employment and are kept there through intimidation and abuse,” the statement said.
In Mali, the operation made it possible to identify 24 Togolese women held against their will and forced to participate in a commercial scheme, after having been lured by the promise of employment abroad.
In Costa Rica, a woman at the head of a sect was arrested for child exploitation, forced labor and physical and psychological violence.
In Brazil, an investigation into a drug trafficking network established that its members also worked as smugglers to the United States.
Exploited repeatedly
“In their incessant quest for profit, organized criminal groups continue to exploit men, women and children, often repeatedly,” lamented Interpol Secretary General Jürgen Stock, for whom “only coordinated action can counter these threats.
Jürgen Stock, who is completing his second and final term at the head of Interpol, must give way to Brazilian Valdecy Urquizava at the organization’s annual general meeting, which is currently being held in Glasgow.
ats/miro
