Nine people were prosecuted since they apparently recruited women in Bogotá and through deception took them to Peru where they were sexually exploited.
The joint work of the Attorney General’s Office and Dijín-National Police revealed an organized criminal group operating in Bogotá and Nariño, which would be involved in sexually exploiting young women, while illegally offering transportation and accommodation packages to migrants.
In this regard, Daniela Caicedo Morales, Paulina Flórez Asmasa, Homero Gustavo Arteaga Benavides, Héctor Abrahán Rico Rodríguez, Adriana Margoth Ramírez Guarnica, Juan Carlos Tutalcha Cumbal, Laureano Eduard Chingal Ipial, Polivio Armando Ceballos Tutacha and Jairo Marcelo Usamag Chacón were arrested by virtue of a judicial order.
These people were charged, according to their level of participation, with human trafficking, criminal conspiracy, migrant smuggling; and manufacturing, trafficking and possession of firearms or ammunition. They did not plead guilty to charges.
Caicedo Morales, Flórez Asmasa, Arteaga Benavides and Rodríguez were sent to prison pursuant to a judge’s decision in Pasto (Nariño). The other five defendants must serve home detention.
The investigation established that the defendants, apparently, recruited women since 2021 using the false promise of jobs in prestigious restaurants with free daily income of 27 dollars in Lima (Peru).
The victims were transported by land to the city of Constitución, where their identity documents were taken off and were notified of a debt of 5,000 dollars that they had to pay by working in houses of prostitution.
The women were allegedly physically abused and threatened to prevent them from fleeing or making their families aware of the situation they were facing.
Moreover, these people apparently illegally transported Cuban, Chinese, Haitian and Venezuelan migrants from Nariño to Necoclí (Antioquia), so that they could continue their routes to Central America.
The foreign citizens were offered alleged transportation in tourist buses and accommodation.
This service was also provided to citizens who migrated from the border with Venezuela to Ecuador, Peru and Chile.
The arrests were conducted with the cooperation of Migration authorities in Colombia and the National Army. In the hearings, the seizure of 93 million COP, 499 dollars, firearms, ammunition and cell phones was legalized.
It is under investigation whether the criminal group has alleged ties to criminal organizations such as the so-called ‘Tren de Aragua’.
The Office of the Attorney General makes this information public for reasons of general interest.
The information contained in this press release corresponds to the narration of the objective news provided by the officials in charge of carrying out criminal investigations within the Office of the Attorney General. By the time this communication is disclosed, the legal status of the people mentioned is still pending to be resolved by the competent judicial authority, always under the presumption of innocence contemplated by Article 29 of the Political Constitution and Article 7 of Law 906 of 2004.