3 weeks ago
5
Thirteen women and a teenage girl were rescued from suspected human trafficking operations being run out of two spa locations in Marabella and Cunupia yesterday.
The operations were part of a major Counter Trafficking Unit investigation into human trafficking across Trinidad and targeted branches of the Triple R Spa.
During simultaneous operations, code-named Triple Knock, officers rescued six women and a 13-year-old girl at the spa’s Pearl Avenue, Marabella location, and seven Latin American women, aged 19 to 25, at the Cunupia branch on Sunrise Crescent.
A Venezuelan woman and two Trinidadian men were arrested during the raids.
In a release yesterday, the CTU said the operation was supported by several agencies, including the Defence Force, Immigration Division, Financial Investigations Branch, and various special units of the police service.
Items of evidential value were seized and investigations are continuing.
The CTU said the investigation began after a 20-year-old Venezuelan national escaped her traffickers and sought help through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Trinidad. She said she had been lured to the country in January under the false promise of a job at a beauty salon, but was instead trafficked at both spa locations. She alleged she was forced to consume cocaine, sexually exploited and held under the guise of owing a fictitious debt.
The UNHCR referred her to the CTU in May. Officials said she was provided with psychosocial support and protection, and her case triggered the wider investigation.
The CTU is urging anyone with information on suspected trafficking to contact its toll-free hotline at 800-4CTU.
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