Deutsche Welle reported that a transnational migrant smuggling operation left 257 arrested in the Americas and five of them were captured in Costa Rica.
According to the media outlet, the apprehensions were carried out during a series of actions executed in the national territory by the Judicial Investigation Organism (OIJ), in coordination with the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).
These actions were carried out between November 27th and December 1st but were made public on Monday.
The Judicial Police specified that two of those arrested were wanted for alleged human trafficking for sexual exploitation, one for apparent trafficking for labor exploitation, one for alleged computer fraud (against her there was an international arrest warrant) and the remaining one for irregular immigration status and possible assault on an official.
The Investigation Agency did not detail the surnames of the accused or their nationalities. It only stated that they were all presented before the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which will have to define their legal status.
Likewise, the head of Investigation of the Specialized Section on Gender Violence, Trafficking and Smuggling of Migrants of the Judicial Police, Diego Castillo Gómez, indicated that the suspects of sexual exploitation were captured in a raid in Sixaola de Talamanca, while the accused for alleged labor exploitation was captured in an operation in Puntarenas.
Police action was also deployed at the Juan Santamaría International Airport (AIJS), in Alajuela, as well as the border posts at Peñas Blancas (with Nicaragua) and Paso Canoas (with Panama). Also, points in San José, known for this type of activities, were intervened.
The operation involved the participation of the Public Force, the Border Police, the Professional Migration Police (PPM), the Area Surveillance Service, the Tourist Police, and the San José Municipal Police.
These actions were carried out within the framework of “Operation Turquoise V”, in which law enforcement agencies from 33 countries participated.
257 arrests were made thanks to 850,000 controls, carried out at the main transit points, to disrupt the activities of criminal groups that manage the migration routes to the United States and Canada.
