Venezuelan authorities arrest four people for sex trafficking to Trinidad and Tobago

The Public Ministry (MP) of Venezuela has reported that four people have been arrested for sexual treatment and trafficking of women to Trinidad and Tobago.

In a statement sent to the Venezuelan media on Wednesday, the ministry said it acted after four women and a teenager made complaintd.

In the statement, the MP said five women who had been "brought to TT under false pretences to be sexually exploited entered Venezuela and made complaints about what they experienced."

The MP said investigations began after a boat carrying 56 Venezuelans arrived at the port of Guiria on August 4, from TT.

The five victims were met by MP prosecutors. They said they had been captured through social networks on which decent, well-paying jobs in TT had been advertised.

“Victims were forced into sex work, and paid in local currency in exchange for their freedom, which was equivalent to US$4,000,” the press release said.

The ministry arrested and charged four people with the offences of human trafficking and criminal association.

On Tuesday, the director of the Venezuelan Scientific, Penal and Criminal Investigations Corps (CICPC), Douglas Rico, reported the arrest of a 35-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman, a brother and sister, in the state of Monagas,
for their
alleged link to a human trafficking network for the purpose of sexual slavery.

Rico said because of the increase in complaints from relatives of victims of trafficking and sex trafficking, the CICPC opened a department to co-ordinate investigations into human trafficking.