Five women rescued from trafficking in Cancún bar raid

Chetumal. The head of the State Attorney General’s Office, Raciel López Salazar, reported during the Security Cabinet press conference that during the execution of a search warrant at a clandestine bar, they located five women, including one adolescent, who are alleged victims of human trafficking in the form of forced prostitution.

He stated that after obtaining the search warrant from a Control Judge, elements of the Investigation Police, in coordination with the National Guard and Municipal Police, executed it at the establishment located in Supermanzana 239 of the Benito Juárez municipality, where they located the five women, all of Mexican nationality.

According to initial investigations, the women worked as waitresses and hostesses, offering alcoholic drinks to customers for 200 pesos, and in the case of the adults, they were forced to provide sexual services under threat of being fired if they refused; they charged between 800 and 1,500 pesos per service.

At the property, agents seized three notebooks with alleged notes about the collection of sexual services, a computer, a payment terminal, and packages of condoms.

For these events, the property was secured, while the women were provided with legal, psychological, and medical assistance; as for the adolescent, she was handed over to her support network with the intervention of DIF.

Furthermore, Raciel López Salazar announced that during the period from January 19 to 25 of the current year, the autonomous agency under his command obtained 73 indictments, in addition to executing 33 arrest warrants and 18 search warrants.

Regarding the indictments, among others, 39 were for drug trafficking offenses, five for extortion, five for robbery, five for domestic violence, and four for sexual abuse.

Of the executed arrest warrants, five were for aggravated robbery; four for qualified homicide; four for qualified homicide and attempted homicide; three for rape; and two for sexual abuse, among other crimes.

During the referenced period, personnel from the State Attorney General’s Office executed 18 search warrants: 13 for drug-related offenses, two for human trafficking, one for disappearance committed by private individuals, one for vehicle theft, and one more for homicide.

Thanks to evidence provided by this social representation, two people were sentenced for qualified homicide, one for sexual abuse, one for negligent damages, and one for use of false documents.

Also participating in the conference were the Secretary of Government, María Cristina Torres Gómez; Rear Admiral Julio César Gómez Torres, Secretary of Citizen Security; Lieutenant Colonel of Cavalry with General Staff Diploma Carlos Gerardo Méndez de la Cruz, Deputy Chief of Staff of the 34th Military Zone; and Vice Admiral with General Staff Diploma Marco Antonio Muñoz Hernández, Commander of the XI Naval Zone of Chetumal.