18 held as Colombian sex trafficking ring smashed
BOGOTA: Colombian President-elect Ivan Duque pledged to step up efforts to fight sex trafficking in the tourist city of Cartagena, following the arrest of 18 people charged with the sexual exploitation of more than 250 women and girls.
Those arrested over the weekend include foreigners, hotel owners, police, a navy captain who forced his victims to tattoo his name on their bodies, and a Colombian woman known as “Madame” who authorities say led a sex trafficking ring.
Charges include recruiting and selling girls aged 14 to 17 into the sex trade in Cartagena and abroad, and forcing them to have sex with locals and tourists.
The three-day sting operation, which ended on Sunday, has also exposed rampant child sex abuse.
“We will not allow Cartagena to become a sexual tourism destination,” Duque tweeted on Monday, promising to “attack human trafficking and the exploitation of women in our cities and tourist destinations”.
In separate tweets, Duque, who takes over the presidency next Tuesday, said those found guilty should receive the maximum prison sentences possible, up to 40 years, to help prevent such “atrocious” crimes from recurring.
Over the six months leading to the bust, police and prosecutors collected evidence using hidden cameras in tourist areas.
It was one of the biggest operations to combat child-sex trafficking and forced prostitution in Cartagena, authorities said.
In a statement, the attorney-general’s office described the victims as “real slaves of the 21st century”.
“Madame” is charged with trafficking girls and young women abroad, in particular to nearby Caribbean islands, according to the office of the attorney-general.
Traffickers would prey on girls and women living in Cartagena’s slums, promising them jobs and offering to arrange their passports and visas.
“When the victims arrived in the country where they hoped to work, they came across a very different reality,” the attorney-general’s office said. “They were stripped of their documents, locked up and exploited sexually.”
Prosecutors are also investigating the “abhorrent” case of a navy captain who, they said, has accepted the charges laid against him.
“There is abundant evidence that indicates he located girls under the age of 14 on social networks, abused them, bought their silence, and ordered them to tattoo his name on parts of their bodies,” the office said.
Attorney-General Nestor Humberto Martinez noted that many of the victims were from neighbouring Venezuela.
With their country embroiled in economic and political turmoil, about 672 000 Venezuelans have crossed the border since 2015, according to Colombian authorities.
Campaigners warn that many of the migrants were vulnerable to exploitation by traffickers, while some have joined the sex trade out of desperation.