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Crime Reporter

The International Criminal Police Organisations (Interpol) has started helping law enforcement agents, including the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) to dismantle human trafficking criminal networks by promoting international police cooperation and the use of the organisation’s policing capabilities.

By engaging in these operations, member countries work in close partnership on ongoing criminal investigations, strengthening their controls to identify victims of trafficking in borders and hotspots.

Interpol said human trafficking constitutes a modern form of slavery denying people their dignity and basic rights. It is a crime that knows no borders, affecting people of all ages and regions throughout the world.

In the eyes of organized-crime networks, victims of this crime are a commodity for economic profit, to be exploited and sold. Such networks make large profits through human trafficking as they subject their victims to mental and physical abuse.

Trafficking can take on many forms. Its constant feature, however, is the exploitation of vulnerabilities. Examples include, among others, cases of labour exploitation in areas like construction, fishing and agriculture; forced criminality, sexual exploitation and organ removal.

During this year’s World Day against Trafficking in Persons, held annually on July 30, Interpol shed light on its work combatting this crime. This year’s focus was on the role of technology as a tool that can both facilitate and impede human trafficking.

The acting coordinator for Human Trafficking and Smuggling of Migrants Unit Mr Isaac Espinosa Delgado said, “Traffickers are recruiting, transporting, harbouring and exploiting victims abusing a wide diversity of technology platforms. These platforms allow traffickers to reach a larger number of potential victims in any region in the world.

“Global Law Enforcement must stay vigilant, work together, and leverage that same technology to prevent and disrupt this serious transgression to human rights.”

Although human trafficking is predominantly a domestic crime, data shows that international human trafficking is commonly organized by criminal networks often involved in other serious crimes whose victims are trafficked for longer periods and with more violence.

Last month, Interpol-coordinated police actions mobilized 44 countries across four continents.

Among the operation’s outcomes were the rescue and safeguarding of nearly 700 human trafficking victims and the arrest of 300 suspected traffickers and migrant smugglers under an operation code-named Operation WEKA II.

Significantly, in the aftermath of this operation, police in Togo were able to locate a teenage girl trafficked from Burkina Faso. The INTERPOL National Central Bureau in Lomé was able to trace the location where the girl was held captive in Togo, rescuing her and reuniting her with her family. 

In another operation code-named Storm Makers held in March, authorities successfully dismantled organized crime groups believed to be facilitating the travel of Asian men, women and children across borders for exploitation.

Throughout the operation, authorities rescued and assisted 80 human trafficking victims, arrested 121 suspects and opened 193 new investigations.

In December last year, under Operation Turquesa III, it resulted in the arrest of 216 suspects and the identification of more than 10 000 irregular migrants from 61 different countries. Other key operational results included the rescue and assistance of 127 human trafficking victims from forced labour and sexual exploitation and the arrest of 27 people in El Salvador in relation to child sexual abuse and child labour offences.