An alleged gang of human trafficking particularly of sexual exploitation of five minors, mostly of Venezuelan nationality, was dismantled by the Colombian authorities.
The information was confirmed by the Colombian Attorney General’s Office on its Twitter account @FiscaliaCol where it published a press release this Friday in which it gave details about the investigation.
“15 people were sent to jail, presumably responsible for inducing five minors into prostitution, several of them migrants. Judicial police work showed that the defendants belong to the Las Vegas criminal structure,” said José Manuel Martínez, director of the Bogotá Prosecutor’s Office.
“Of the 15 processed, 13 are of Colombian nationality and two are foreigners. The work was centered on a news item in the media where it was reported that there was sexual exploitation of minors in that sector of the city (…) Five minor victims of Venezuelan nationality were identified and it was even determined that some of them had caused abortions,” said Heber Benavidez, commander of the Bogotá Police.
The gang operated in the Santa Fe neighborhood, in the town of Mártires in Bogotá and “the evidence collected showed that the alleged members of the organization took advantage of the vulnerable conditions of the minorsmostly Venezuelans, to subject them to sexual harassment, for which they would have obtained economic benefit, “the Prosecutor’s Office tweeted.
In the investigation, the Colombian authorities presented abundant film material, testimonies and documents to determine that the aforementioned criminal actions had been committed for at least eight months and for these events on August 5, the Bogotá Police captured the 15 defendants in the center of the city.
“As it was possible to determine, those investigated would have leased bars, nightclubs, residences and motels located in the Santa Fe neighborhood, Mártires locality, in Bogotá to presumably force the victims to have sexual relations with men of legal age there”, specifies the release.
The Prosecutor’s Office charged these people, according to their degree of responsibility, for the crimes of pimping minors and aggravated encouragement of prostitution of minors. None of the charges was accepted by the alleged perpetrators.
